Added UPX
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NAME
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upx - compress or expand executable files
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SYNOPSIS
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upx [ *command* ] [ *options* ] *filename*...
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ABSTRACT
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The Ultimate Packer for eXecutables
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Copyright (c) 1996-2023 Markus Oberhumer, Laszlo Molnar & John Reiser
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https://upx.github.io
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UPX is a portable, extendable, high-performance executable packer for
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several different executable formats. It achieves an excellent
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compression ratio and offers **very** fast decompression. Your
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executables suffer no memory overhead or other drawbacks for most of the
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formats supported, because of in-place decompression.
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DISCLAIMER
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UPX comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details see the file COPYING.
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Please report all problems or suggestions to the authors. Thanks.
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SECURITY CONTEXT
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IMPORTANT NOTE: UPX inherits the security context of any files it
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handles.
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This means that packing, unpacking, or even testing or listing a file
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requires the same security considerations as actually executing the
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file.
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Use UPX on trusted files only!
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DESCRIPTION
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UPX is a versatile executable packer with the following features:
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- secure: as UPX is documented Open Source since many years any relevant
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Security/Antivirus software is able to peek inside UPX compressed
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apps to verify them
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- excellent compression ratio: typically compresses better than Zip,
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use UPX to decrease the size of your distribution !
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- very fast decompression: more than 500 MB/sec on any reasonably modern
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machine
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- no memory overhead for your compressed executables for most of the
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supported formats because of in-place decompression
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- safe: you can list, test and unpack your executables.
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Also, a checksum of both the compressed and uncompressed file is
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maintained internally.
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- universal: UPX can pack a number of executable formats, including
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Windows programs and DLLs, macOS apps and Linux executables
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- portable: UPX is written in portable endian-neutral C++
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- extendable: because of the class layout it's very easy to support
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new executable formats or add new compression algorithms
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- free: UPX is distributed with full source code under the GNU General
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Public License v2+, with special exceptions granting the free usage
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for commercial programs
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You probably understand now why we call UPX the "*ultimate*" executable
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packer.
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COMMANDS
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Compress
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This is the default operation, eg. upx yourfile.exe will compress the
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file specified on the command line.
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Decompress
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All UPX supported file formats can be unpacked using the -d switch, eg.
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upx -d yourfile.exe will uncompress the file you've just compressed.
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Test
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The -t command tests the integrity of the compressed and uncompressed
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data, eg. upx -t yourfile.exe check whether your file can be safely
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decompressed. Note, that this command doesn't check the whole file, only
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the part that will be uncompressed during program execution. This means
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that you should not use this command instead of a virus checker.
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List
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The -l command prints out some information about the compressed files
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specified on the command line as parameters, eg upx -l yourfile.exe
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shows the compressed / uncompressed size and the compression ratio of
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*yourfile.exe*.
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OPTIONS
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-q: be quiet, suppress warnings
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-q -q (or -qq): be very quiet, suppress errors
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-q -q -q (or -qqq): produce no output at all
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--help: prints the help
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--version: print the version of UPX
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--exact: when compressing, require to be able to get a byte-identical
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file after decompression with option -d. [NOTE: this is work in progress
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and is not supported for all formats yet. If you do care, as a
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workaround you can compress and then decompress your program a first
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time - any further compress-decompress steps should then yield
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byte-identical results as compared to the first decompressed version.]
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-k: keep backup files
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-o file: write output to file
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[ ...more docs need to be written... - type `upx --help' for now ]
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COMPRESSION LEVELS & TUNING
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UPX offers ten different compression levels from -1 to -9, and --best.
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The default compression level is -8 for files smaller than 512 KiB, and
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-7 otherwise.
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* Compression levels 1, 2 and 3 are pretty fast.
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* Compression levels 4, 5 and 6 achieve a good time/ratio performance.
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* Compression levels 7, 8 and 9 favor compression ratio over speed.
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* Compression level --best may take a long time.
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Note that compression level --best can be somewhat slow for large files,
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but you definitely should use it when releasing a final version of your
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program.
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Quick info for achieving the best compression ratio:
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* Try upx --brute --no-lzma myfile.exe or even upx --ultra-brute
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--no-lzma myfile.exe.
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* The option --lzma enables LZMA compression, which compresses better
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but is *significantly slower* at decompression. You probably do not
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want to use it for large files.
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(Note that --lzma is automatically enabled by --all-methods and
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--brute, use --no-lzma to override.)
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* Try if --overlay=strip works.
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* For win32/pe programs there's --strip-relocs=0. See notes below.
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OVERLAY HANDLING OPTIONS
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Info: An "overlay" means auxiliary data attached after the logical end
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of an executable, and it often contains application specific data (this
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is a common practice to avoid an extra data file, though it would be
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better to use resource sections).
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UPX handles overlays like many other executable packers do: it simply
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copies the overlay after the compressed image. This works with some
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files, but doesn't work with others, depending on how an application
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actually accesses this overlayed data.
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--overlay=copy Copy any extra data attached to the file. [DEFAULT]
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--overlay=strip Strip any overlay from the program instead of
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copying it. Be warned, this may make the compressed
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program crash or otherwise unusable.
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--overlay=skip Refuse to compress any program which has an overlay.
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ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
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The environment variable UPX can hold a set of default options for UPX.
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These options are interpreted first and can be overwritten by explicit
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command line parameters. For example:
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for DOS/Windows: set UPX=-9 --compress-icons#0
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for sh/ksh/zsh: UPX="-9 --compress-icons=0"; export UPX
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for csh/tcsh: setenv UPX "-9 --compress-icons=0"
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Under DOS/Windows you must use '#' instead of '=' when setting the
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environment variable because of a COMMAND.COM limitation.
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Not all of the options are valid in the environment variable - UPX will
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tell you.
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You can explicitly use the --no-env option to ignore the environment
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variable.
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NOTES FOR THE SUPPORTED EXECUTABLE FORMATS
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NOTES FOR ATARI/TOS
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This is the executable format used by the Atari ST/TT, a Motorola 68000
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based personal computer which was popular in the late '80s. Support of
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this format is only because of nostalgic feelings of one of the authors
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and serves no practical purpose :-). See https://freemint.github.io for
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more info.
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Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
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uncompression. All debug information will be stripped, though.
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Extra options available for this executable format:
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--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
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available compression methods. This may improve
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the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default method gives the best results anyway.
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NOTES FOR BVMLINUZ/I386
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Same as vmlinuz/i386.
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NOTES FOR DOS/COM
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Obviously UPX won't work with executables that want to read data from
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themselves (like some commandline utilities that ship with Win95/98/ME).
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Compressed programs only work on a 286+.
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Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
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uncompression.
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Maximum uncompressed size: ~65100 bytes.
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Extra options available for this executable format:
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--8086 Create an executable that works on any 8086 CPU.
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--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
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available compression methods. This may improve
|
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the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
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the default method gives the best results anyway.
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--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
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available preprocessing filters. This may improve
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the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default filter gives the best results anyway.
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NOTES FOR DOS/EXE
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dos/exe stands for all "normal" 16-bit DOS executables.
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Obviously UPX won't work with executables that want to read data from
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themselves (like some command line utilities that ship with
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Win95/98/ME).
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Compressed programs only work on a 286+.
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Extra options available for this executable format:
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--8086 Create an executable that works on any 8086 CPU.
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--no-reloc Use no relocation records in the exe header.
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--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
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available compression methods. This may improve
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the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default method gives the best results anyway.
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NOTES FOR DOS/SYS
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Compressed programs only work on a 286+.
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Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
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uncompression.
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Maximum uncompressed size: ~65350 bytes.
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Extra options available for this executable format:
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--8086 Create an executable that works on any 8086 CPU.
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--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
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--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available preprocessing filters. This may improve
|
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the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default filter gives the best results anyway.
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NOTES FOR DJGPP2/COFF
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First of all, it is recommended to use UPX *instead* of strip. strip has
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the very bad habit of replacing your stub with its own (outdated)
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version. Additionally UPX corrects a bug/feature in strip v2.8.x: it
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will fix the 4 KiB alignment of the stub.
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UPX includes the full functionality of stubify. This means it will
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automatically stubify your COFF files. Use the option --coff to disable
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this functionality (see below).
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UPX automatically handles Allegro packfiles.
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The DLM format (a rather exotic shared library extension) is not
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supported.
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Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
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uncompression. All debug information and trailing garbage will be
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stripped, though.
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Extra options available for this executable format:
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--coff Produce COFF output instead of EXE. By default
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UPX keeps your current stub.
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--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
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available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
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available preprocessing filters. This may improve
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||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
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the default filter gives the best results anyway.
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NOTES FOR LINUX [general]
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Introduction
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Linux/386 support in UPX consists of 3 different executable formats,
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one optimized for ELF executables ("linux/elf386"), one optimized
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for shell scripts ("linux/sh386"), and one generic format
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("linux/386").
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We will start with a general discussion first, but please
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also read the relevant docs for each of the individual formats.
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Also, there is special support for bootable kernels - see the
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description of the vmlinuz/386 format.
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General user's overview
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Running a compressed executable program trades less space on a
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``permanent'' storage medium (such as a hard disk, floppy disk,
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CD-ROM, flash memory, EPROM, etc.) for more space in one or more
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``temporary'' storage media (such as RAM, swap space, /tmp, etc.).
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Running a compressed executable also requires some additional CPU
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cycles to generate the compressed executable in the first place,
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and to decompress it at each invocation.
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How much space is traded? It depends on the executable, but many
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programs save 30% to 50% of permanent disk space. How much CPU
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overhead is there? Again, it depends on the executable, but
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decompression speed generally is at least many megabytes per second,
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and frequently is limited by the speed of the underlying disk
|
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or network I/O.
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Depending on the statistics of usage and access, and the relative
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speeds of CPU, RAM, swap space, /tmp, and file system storage, then
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invoking and running a compressed executable can be faster than
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directly running the corresponding uncompressed program.
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The operating system might perform fewer expensive I/O operations
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to invoke the compressed program. Paging to or from swap space
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or /tmp might be faster than paging from the general file system.
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``Medium-sized'' programs which access about 1/3 to 1/2 of their
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stored program bytes can do particularly well with compression.
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Small programs tend not to benefit as much because the absolute
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savings is less. Big programs tend not to benefit proportionally
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because each invocation may use only a small fraction of the program,
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yet UPX decompresses the entire program before invoking it.
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But in environments where disk or flash memory storage is limited,
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then compression may win anyway.
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Currently, executables compressed by UPX do not share RAM at runtime
|
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in the way that executables mapped from a file system do. As a
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result, if the same program is run simultaneously by more than one
|
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process, then using the compressed version will require more RAM and/or
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swap space. So, shell programs (bash, csh, etc.) and ``make''
|
||||
might not be good candidates for compression.
|
||||
|
||||
UPX recognizes three executable formats for Linux: Linux/elf386,
|
||||
Linux/sh386, and Linux/386. Linux/386 is the most generic format;
|
||||
it accommodates any file that can be executed. At runtime, the UPX
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decompression stub re-creates in /tmp a copy of the original file,
|
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and then the copy is (re-)executed with the same arguments.
|
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ELF binary executables prefer the Linux/elf386 format by default,
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because UPX decompresses them directly into RAM, uses only one
|
||||
exec, does not use space in /tmp, and does not use /proc.
|
||||
Shell scripts where the underlying shell accepts a ``-c'' argument
|
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can use the Linux/sh386 format. UPX decompresses the shell script
|
||||
into low memory, then maps the shell and passes the entire text of the
|
||||
script as an argument with a leading ``-c''.
|
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|
||||
General benefits:
|
||||
|
||||
- UPX can compress all executables, be it AOUT, ELF, libc4, libc5,
|
||||
libc6, Shell/Perl/Python/... scripts, standalone Java .class
|
||||
binaries, or whatever...
|
||||
All scripts and programs will work just as before.
|
||||
|
||||
- Compressed programs are completely self-contained. No need for
|
||||
any external program.
|
||||
|
||||
- UPX keeps your original program untouched. This means that
|
||||
after decompression you will have a byte-identical version,
|
||||
and you can use UPX as a file compressor just like gzip.
|
||||
[ Note that UPX maintains a checksum of the file internally,
|
||||
so it is indeed a reliable alternative. ]
|
||||
|
||||
- As the stub only uses syscalls and isn't linked against libc it
|
||||
should run under any Linux configuration that can run ELF
|
||||
binaries.
|
||||
|
||||
- For the same reason compressed executables should run under
|
||||
FreeBSD and other systems which can run Linux binaries.
|
||||
[ Please send feedback on this topic ]
|
||||
|
||||
General drawbacks:
|
||||
|
||||
- It is not advisable to compress programs which usually have many
|
||||
instances running (like `sh' or `make') because the common segments of
|
||||
compressed programs won't be shared any longer between different
|
||||
processes.
|
||||
|
||||
- `ldd' and `size' won't show anything useful because all they
|
||||
see is the statically linked stub. Since version 0.82 the section
|
||||
headers are stripped from the UPX stub and `size' doesn't even
|
||||
recognize the file format. The file patches/patch-elfcode.h has a
|
||||
patch to fix this bug in `size' and other programs which use GNU BFD.
|
||||
|
||||
General notes:
|
||||
|
||||
- As UPX leaves your original program untouched it is advantageous
|
||||
to strip it before compression.
|
||||
|
||||
- If you compress a script you will lose platform independence -
|
||||
this could be a problem if you are using NFS mounted disks.
|
||||
|
||||
- Compression of suid, guid and sticky-bit programs is rejected
|
||||
because of possible security implications.
|
||||
|
||||
- For the same reason there is no sense in making any compressed
|
||||
program suid.
|
||||
|
||||
- Obviously UPX won't work with executables that want to read data
|
||||
from themselves. E.g., this might be a problem for Perl scripts
|
||||
which access their __DATA__ lines.
|
||||
|
||||
- In case of internal errors the stub will abort with exitcode 127.
|
||||
Typical reasons for this to happen are that the program has somehow
|
||||
been modified after compression.
|
||||
Running `strace -o strace.log compressed_file' will tell you more.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR LINUX/ELF386
|
||||
Please read the general Linux description first.
|
||||
|
||||
The linux/elf386 format decompresses directly into RAM, uses only one
|
||||
exec, does not use space in /tmp, and does not use /proc.
|
||||
|
||||
Linux/elf386 is automatically selected for Linux ELF executables.
|
||||
|
||||
Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
|
||||
uncompression.
|
||||
|
||||
How it works:
|
||||
|
||||
For ELF executables, UPX decompresses directly to memory, simulating
|
||||
the mapping that the operating system kernel uses during exec(),
|
||||
including the PT_INTERP program interpreter (if any).
|
||||
The brk() is set by a special PT_LOAD segment in the compressed
|
||||
executable itself. UPX then wipes the stack clean except for
|
||||
arguments, environment variables, and Elf_auxv entries (this is
|
||||
required by bugs in the startup code of /lib/ld-linux.so as of
|
||||
May 2000), and transfers control to the program interpreter or
|
||||
the e_entry address of the original executable.
|
||||
|
||||
The UPX stub is about 1700 bytes long, partly written in assembler
|
||||
and only uses kernel syscalls. It is not linked against any libc.
|
||||
|
||||
Specific drawbacks:
|
||||
|
||||
- For linux/elf386 and linux/sh386 formats, you will be relying on
|
||||
RAM and swap space to hold all of the decompressed program during
|
||||
the lifetime of the process. If you already use most of your swap
|
||||
space, then you may run out. A system that is "out of memory"
|
||||
can become fragile. Many programs do not react gracefully when
|
||||
malloc() returns 0. With newer Linux kernels, the kernel
|
||||
may decide to kill some processes to regain memory, and you
|
||||
may not like the kernel's choice of which to kill. Running
|
||||
/usr/bin/top is one way to check on the usage of swap space.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
(none)
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR LINUX/SH386
|
||||
Please read the general Linux description first.
|
||||
|
||||
Shell scripts where the underling shell accepts a ``-c'' argument can
|
||||
use the Linux/sh386 format. UPX decompresses the shell script into low
|
||||
memory, then maps the shell and passes the entire text of the script as
|
||||
an argument with a leading ``-c''. It does not use space in /tmp, and
|
||||
does not use /proc.
|
||||
|
||||
Linux/sh386 is automatically selected for shell scripts that use a known
|
||||
shell.
|
||||
|
||||
Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
|
||||
uncompression.
|
||||
|
||||
How it works:
|
||||
|
||||
For shell script executables (files beginning with "#!/" or "#! /")
|
||||
where the shell is known to accept "-c <command>", UPX decompresses
|
||||
the file into low memory, then maps the shell (and its PT_INTERP),
|
||||
and passes control to the shell with the entire decompressed file
|
||||
as the argument after "-c". Known shells are sh, ash, bash, bsh, csh,
|
||||
ksh, tcsh, pdksh. Restriction: UPX cannot use this method
|
||||
for shell scripts which use the one optional string argument after
|
||||
the shell name in the script (example: "#! /bin/sh option3\n".)
|
||||
|
||||
The UPX stub is about 1700 bytes long, partly written in assembler
|
||||
and only uses kernel syscalls. It is not linked against any libc.
|
||||
|
||||
Specific drawbacks:
|
||||
|
||||
- For linux/elf386 and linux/sh386 formats, you will be relying on
|
||||
RAM and swap space to hold all of the decompressed program during
|
||||
the lifetime of the process. If you already use most of your swap
|
||||
space, then you may run out. A system that is "out of memory"
|
||||
can become fragile. Many programs do not react gracefully when
|
||||
malloc() returns 0. With newer Linux kernels, the kernel
|
||||
may decide to kill some processes to regain memory, and you
|
||||
may not like the kernel's choice of which to kill. Running
|
||||
/usr/bin/top is one way to check on the usage of swap space.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
(none)
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR LINUX/386
|
||||
Please read the general Linux description first.
|
||||
|
||||
The generic linux/386 format decompresses to /tmp and needs /proc file
|
||||
system support. It starts the decompressed program via the execve()
|
||||
syscall.
|
||||
|
||||
Linux/386 is only selected if the specialized linux/elf386 and
|
||||
linux/sh386 won't recognize a file.
|
||||
|
||||
Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
|
||||
uncompression.
|
||||
|
||||
How it works:
|
||||
|
||||
For files which are not ELF and not a script for a known "-c" shell,
|
||||
UPX uses kernel execve(), which first requires decompressing to a
|
||||
temporary file in the file system. Interestingly -
|
||||
because of the good memory management of the Linux kernel - this
|
||||
often does not introduce a noticeable delay, and in fact there
|
||||
will be no disk access at all if you have enough free memory as
|
||||
the entire process takes places within the file system buffers.
|
||||
|
||||
A compressed executable consists of the UPX stub and an overlay
|
||||
which contains the original program in a compressed form.
|
||||
|
||||
The UPX stub is a statically linked ELF executable and does
|
||||
the following at program startup:
|
||||
|
||||
1) decompress the overlay to a temporary location in /tmp
|
||||
2) open the temporary file for reading
|
||||
3) try to delete the temporary file and start (execve)
|
||||
the uncompressed program in /tmp using /proc/<pid>/fd/X as
|
||||
attained by step 2)
|
||||
4) if that fails, fork off a subprocess to clean up and
|
||||
start the program in /tmp in the meantime
|
||||
|
||||
The UPX stub is about 1700 bytes long, partly written in assembler
|
||||
and only uses kernel syscalls. It is not linked against any libc.
|
||||
|
||||
Specific drawbacks:
|
||||
|
||||
- You need additional free disk space for the uncompressed program
|
||||
in your /tmp directory. This program is deleted immediately after
|
||||
decompression, but you still need it for the full execution time
|
||||
of the program.
|
||||
|
||||
- You must have /proc file system support as the stub wants to open
|
||||
/proc/<pid>/exe and needs /proc/<pid>/fd/X. This also means that you
|
||||
cannot compress programs that are used during the boot sequence
|
||||
before /proc is mounted.
|
||||
|
||||
- Utilities like `top' will display numerical values in the process
|
||||
name field. This is because Linux computes the process name from
|
||||
the first argument of the last execve syscall (which is typically
|
||||
something like /proc/<pid>/fd/3).
|
||||
|
||||
- Because of temporary decompression to disk the decompression speed
|
||||
is not as fast as with the other executable formats. Still, I can see
|
||||
no noticeable delay when starting programs like my ~3 MiB emacs (which
|
||||
is less than 1 MiB when compressed :-).
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--force-execve Force the use of the generic linux/386 "execve"
|
||||
format, i.e. do not try the linux/elf386 and
|
||||
linux/sh386 formats.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR PS1/EXE
|
||||
This is the executable format used by the Sony PlayStation (PSone), a
|
||||
MIPS R3000 based gaming console which is popular since the late '90s.
|
||||
Support of this format is very similar to the Atari one, because of
|
||||
nostalgic feelings of one of the authors.
|
||||
|
||||
Packed programs will be byte-identical to the original after
|
||||
uncompression, until further notice.
|
||||
|
||||
Maximum uncompressed size: ~1.89 / ~7.60 MiB.
|
||||
|
||||
Notes:
|
||||
|
||||
- UPX creates as default a suitable executable for CD-Mastering
|
||||
and console transfer. For a CD-Master main executable you could also try
|
||||
the special option "--boot-only" as described below.
|
||||
It has been reported that upx packed executables are fully compatible with
|
||||
the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2, PStwo) and Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) in
|
||||
Sony PlayStation (PSone) emulation mode.
|
||||
|
||||
- Normally the packed files use the same memory areas like the uncompressed
|
||||
versions, so they will not override other memory areas while unpacking.
|
||||
If this isn't possible UPX will abort showing a 'packed data overlap'
|
||||
error. With the "--force" option UPX will relocate the loading address
|
||||
for the packed file, but this isn't a real problem if it is a single or
|
||||
the main executable.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
--8-bit Uses 8 bit size compression [default: 32 bit]
|
||||
|
||||
--8mib-ram PSone has 8 MiB ram available [default: 2 MiB]
|
||||
|
||||
--boot-only This format is for main exes and CD-Mastering only !
|
||||
It may slightly improve the compression ratio,
|
||||
decompression routines are faster than default ones.
|
||||
But it cannot be used for console transfer !
|
||||
|
||||
--no-align This option disables CD mode 2 data sector format
|
||||
alignment. May slightly improves the compression ratio,
|
||||
but the compressed executable will not boot from a CD.
|
||||
Use it for console transfer only !
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR RTM32/PE and ARM/PE
|
||||
Same as win32/pe.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR TMT/ADAM
|
||||
This format is used by the TMT Pascal compiler - see http://www.tmt.com/
|
||||
.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available preprocessing filters. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default filter gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR VMLINUZ/386
|
||||
The vmlinuz/386 and bvmlinuz/386 formats take a gzip-compressed bootable
|
||||
Linux kernel image ("vmlinuz", "zImage", "bzImage"), gzip-decompress it
|
||||
and re-compress it with the UPX compression method.
|
||||
|
||||
vmlinuz/386 is completely unrelated to the other Linux executable
|
||||
formats, and it does not share any of their drawbacks.
|
||||
|
||||
Notes:
|
||||
|
||||
- Be sure that "vmlinuz/386" or "bvmlinuz/386" is displayed
|
||||
during compression - otherwise a wrong executable format
|
||||
may have been used, and the kernel won't boot.
|
||||
|
||||
Benefits:
|
||||
|
||||
- Better compression (but note that the kernel was already compressed,
|
||||
so the improvement is not as large as with other formats).
|
||||
Still, the bytes saved may be essential for special needs like
|
||||
boot disks.
|
||||
|
||||
For example, this is what I get for my 2.2.16 kernel:
|
||||
1589708 vmlinux
|
||||
641073 bzImage [original]
|
||||
560755 bzImage.upx [compressed by "upx -9"]
|
||||
|
||||
- Much faster decompression at kernel boot time (but kernel
|
||||
decompression speed is not really an issue these days).
|
||||
|
||||
Drawbacks:
|
||||
|
||||
(none)
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available preprocessing filters. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default filter gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR WATCOM/LE
|
||||
UPX has been successfully tested with the following extenders: DOS4G,
|
||||
DOS4GW, PMODE/W, DOS32a, CauseWay. The WDOS/X extender is partly
|
||||
supported (for details see the file bugs BUGS).
|
||||
|
||||
DLLs and the LX format are not supported.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--le Produce an unbound LE output instead of
|
||||
keeping the current stub.
|
||||
|
||||
NOTES FOR WIN32/PE
|
||||
The PE support in UPX is quite stable now, but probably there are still
|
||||
some incompatibilities with some files.
|
||||
|
||||
Because of the way UPX (and other packers for this format) works, you
|
||||
can see increased memory usage of your compressed files because the
|
||||
whole program is loaded into memory at startup. If you start several
|
||||
instances of huge compressed programs you're wasting memory because the
|
||||
common segments of the program won't get shared across the instances. On
|
||||
the other hand if you're compressing only smaller programs, or running
|
||||
only one instance of larger programs, then this penalty is smaller, but
|
||||
it's still there.
|
||||
|
||||
If you're running executables from network, then compressed programs
|
||||
will load faster, and require less bandwidth during execution.
|
||||
|
||||
DLLs are supported. But UPX compressed DLLs can not share common data
|
||||
and code when they got used by multiple applications. So compressing
|
||||
msvcrt.dll is a waste of memory, but compressing the dll plugins of a
|
||||
particular application may be a better idea.
|
||||
|
||||
Screensavers are supported, with the restriction that the filename must
|
||||
end with ".scr" (as screensavers are handled slightly different than
|
||||
normal exe files).
|
||||
|
||||
UPX compressed PE files have some minor memory overhead (usually in the
|
||||
10 - 30 KiB range) which can be seen by specifying the "-i" command line
|
||||
switch during compression.
|
||||
|
||||
Extra options available for this executable format:
|
||||
|
||||
--compress-exports=0 Don't compress the export section.
|
||||
Use this if you plan to run the compressed
|
||||
program under Wine.
|
||||
--compress-exports=1 Compress the export section. [DEFAULT]
|
||||
Compression of the export section can improve the
|
||||
compression ratio quite a bit but may not work
|
||||
with all programs (like winword.exe).
|
||||
UPX never compresses the export section of a DLL
|
||||
regardless of this option.
|
||||
|
||||
--compress-icons=0 Don't compress any icons.
|
||||
--compress-icons=1 Compress all but the first icon.
|
||||
--compress-icons=2 Compress all icons which are not in the
|
||||
first icon directory. [DEFAULT]
|
||||
--compress-icons=3 Compress all icons.
|
||||
|
||||
--compress-resources=0 Don't compress any resources at all.
|
||||
|
||||
--keep-resource=list Don't compress resources specified by the list.
|
||||
The members of the list are separated by commas.
|
||||
A list member has the following format: I<type[/name]>.
|
||||
I<Type> is the type of the resource. Standard types
|
||||
must be specified as decimal numbers, user types can be
|
||||
specified by decimal IDs or strings. I<Name> is the
|
||||
identifier of the resource. It can be a decimal number
|
||||
or a string. For example:
|
||||
|
||||
--keep-resource=2/MYBITMAP,5,6/12345
|
||||
|
||||
UPX won't compress the named bitmap resource "MYBITMAP",
|
||||
it leaves every dialog (5) resource uncompressed, and
|
||||
it won't touch the string table resource with identifier
|
||||
12345.
|
||||
|
||||
--force Force compression even when there is an
|
||||
unexpected value in a header field.
|
||||
Use with care.
|
||||
|
||||
--strip-relocs=0 Don't strip relocation records.
|
||||
--strip-relocs=1 Strip relocation records. [DEFAULT]
|
||||
This option only works on executables with base
|
||||
address greater or equal to 0x400000. Usually the
|
||||
compressed files becomes smaller, but some files
|
||||
may become larger. Note that the resulting file will
|
||||
not work under Windows 3.x (Win32s).
|
||||
UPX never strips relocations from a DLL
|
||||
regardless of this option.
|
||||
|
||||
--all-methods Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available compression methods. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default method gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
--all-filters Compress the program several times, using all
|
||||
available preprocessing filters. This may improve
|
||||
the compression ratio in some cases, but usually
|
||||
the default filter gives the best results anyway.
|
||||
|
||||
DIAGNOSTICS
|
||||
Exit status is normally 0; if an error occurs, exit status is 1. If a
|
||||
warning occurs, exit status is 2.
|
||||
|
||||
UPX's diagnostics are intended to be self-explanatory.
|
||||
|
||||
BUGS
|
||||
Please report all bugs immediately to the authors.
|
||||
|
||||
AUTHORS
|
||||
Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer <markus@oberhumer.com>
|
||||
http://www.oberhumer.com
|
||||
|
||||
Laszlo Molnar <ezerotven+github@gmail.com>
|
||||
|
||||
John F. Reiser <jreiser@BitWagon.com>
|
||||
|
||||
Jens Medoch <jssg@users.sourceforge.net>
|
||||
|
||||
COPYRIGHT
|
||||
Copyright (C) 1996-2023 Markus Franz Xaver Johannes Oberhumer
|
||||
|
||||
Copyright (C) 1996-2023 Laszlo Molnar
|
||||
|
||||
Copyright (C) 2000-2023 John F. Reiser
|
||||
|
||||
Copyright (C) 2002-2023 Jens Medoch
|
||||
|
||||
UPX is distributed with full source code under the terms of the GNU
|
||||
General Public License v2+; either under the pure GPLv2+ (see the file
|
||||
COPYING), or (at your option) under the GPLv+2 with special exceptions
|
||||
and restrictions granting the free usage for all binaries including
|
||||
commercial programs (see the file LICENSE).
|
||||
|
||||
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
|
||||
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
|
||||
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
|
||||
|
||||
You should have received a copy of the UPX License Agreements along with
|
||||
this program; see the files COPYING and LICENSE. If not, visit the UPX
|
||||
home page.
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user