[General] Is there automated tool available to convert from assembly language to java?

[MSQUARE]

Is there any tool available in market for pricing or open source to convert assembly language code to Java? My client has tons of code in Assembly language code and it is very hard to convert whole program from ACL to Java manually? Client is looking to have some tool to convert from assembly language program to java and to have the standards during the conversion:

Parse the ALC code to show structures, relationships, and logic flow

• Capture and organize information that assists in understanding the meaning of the ALC code such as variable names, comments, setup functions, dependencies, and shared subroutines

• Traceability of the code to both documentation and target requirements

• Validation that the target code accomplishes the correct business functionality

 

[Golden Electronics]

Is it related to controller coding? If yes Which type controller ?

 

[MSQUARE]

No. This is not controller coding. It has business logic for application which process public transaction.

 

[123jack]

I've used a couple of low to high level converters in the past _ (15 years ago maybe... I think I still have an 8085-c one on my shelf...)
If you have the actual assembly source code along with comments and documentation you might get some of what you need but I wouldnt advise it.
but if all you have is the native hex my advice would be to give up and start from scratch.
but "java ?" ... I'm amazed people use it for anything.

 

[jayanth.devarayanadurga]

x86 code to java code? If yes, x86 code is machine dependent and java creates byte code which is converted to machine dependent code.

 

[jayanth.devarayanadurga]

There are tools which generate source code for java byte code. You have to find ways to convert x86 ASM code to java byte code. If this done you can convert byte code to source code.

 

[MSQUARE]

Can i borrow your self developed tool? Or you can help me in this project to convert from ALC TO JAVA Language? Thank you so much for your help and much appreciated.

 

[andre_luis]

Is there automated tool available to convert from assembly language to java?

No way...
ASM code performs direct access to machine resources, whereas JAVA code performs access to virtual machine.


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[jayanth.devarayanadurga]

www.cis.nctu.edu.tw/~wuuyang/papers/bytecode2X86.BRIEF.pdf


Write a small program in java and get its byte code and x86 asm code. Try to translate x86 code back to byte code and then byte code to source code. See if that helps.

 

[andre_luis]

He was asking for an automated tool...


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[Dan Mills]

Well I suppose one could write a tool to take an X86 emulator written in java and hook it up to an array of assembler (more practically an array of binary code), it would technically meet the spec, but would I suspect be quite useless in practise (As almost all such tools are).

Seriously, trying a direct line by line port between two very different languages is pretty much ALWAYS a mistake, it begets nothing but maintanance headaches.

Far better to read the assembly (possibly tracing it out in a debugger if it does anything that interesting) and then design a way to do it in your target language in a way that fits that languages standard idioms. That way you have something you can modify a year or two from now, instead of an unmaintainable buggy mess.

Unless the application is something very, very special, your time is better spent on a rewrite from scratch rather then a reversing effort, reverse engineering is a pain in the bum in all ways.

Regards, Dan.

 

[MSQUARE]

Thank you everyone. The client wants to do proof of concept which they have multi-millions of code in ALC which they want to test few hundreds to thousand line of code to Java from ALC through some automated tool quickly in next two weeks before they make any decision to port/rewrite the code manually to java. If the automated tool converts the ALC code near perfection to Java with few manual intervention then i am fine to test the tool since the tool can be used for proof of concept not the actual conversion for business logic immediately. Please let me know if anyone knows or can help me to do this project in two weeks timeframe few modules.

thanks again everyone.

 

[MSQUARE]

I've used a couple of low to high level converters in the past _ (15 years ago maybe... I think I still have an 8085-c one on my shelf...)
If you have the actual assembly source code along with comments and documentation you might get some of what you need but I wouldnt advise it.
but if all you have is the native hex my advice would be to give up and start from scratch.
but "java ?" ... I'm amazed people use it for anything.

Hi Jack,

Can you lend your tool to convert or test from ALC to java with some documentation? Or can you be a prime programmer to convert ALC to java? Or if you know anyone to help me would be also nice.