rbennet1@gara.une.oz.au (Robert Bennetts) (03/12/91)
I am trying to find a way to disassemble some .exe files I have so that I
can reassemble them with microsoft assembler (masm).I would then hopefully
be able to convert them from .exe files to .com files using exe2bin.There are
two reasons I would like to do this.The first is that com files are smaller
than the equivalent exe files,and I would like to conserve space.The second
is that I am hoping that the com files will run faster than the original exe
file.
The problem I have is that I can't figure out how to disassemble the
original exe files to a file of assembler code, which can then be reassembled
by masm.Can this be done with debug?
I WILL BE VERY GRATEFULL FOR ANY HELP.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks in advance....
Robert Bennetts.
-> rbennet1@gara.une.oz.au
OR
rbennet1@neumann.une.oz.au
OR
rbennett@loki.une.oz.au
valley@uchicago (Doug Dougherty) (03/12/91)
rbennet1@gara.une.oz.au (Robert Bennetts) writes: > I am trying to find a way to disassemble some .exe files I have so that I >can reassemble them with microsoft assembler (masm).I would then hopefully >be able to convert them from .exe files to .com files using exe2bin.There are >two reasons I would like to do this.The first is that com files are smaller >than the equivalent exe files,and I would like to conserve space.The second >is that I am hoping that the com files will run faster than the original exe >file. This is tricky business. Which disassembler are you using? (You mention DEBUG; if that's all you've got, you're looking at some tough sledding!) I've been using SR from V communications; it's pretty good. If your only goal is to save space, just use LZEZE; in fact that package includes a COMTOEXE program that you run on your .COM files before running them through LZEXE. Incidentally, I renamed COMTOEXE to COM2EXE on my disk to make it more symmetric to EXE2BIN & EXE2COM...
29195@ruve.runit.sintef.no (Gulbrandsen,Arnt) (03/13/91)
COM files won't run faster than (small model) .EXE files. They will run faster than large model .EXE files, but those are too big to be converted. Arnt Gulbradsen, University of Trondheim, Norway 29195@ruve.runit.sintef.no
frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) (03/15/91)
rbennet1@gara.une.oz.au (Robert Bennetts) writes: > I am trying to find a way to disassemble some .exe files I have so that I >can reassemble them with microsoft assembler (masm).I would then hopefully >be able to convert them from .exe files to .com files using exe2bin.There are >two reasons I would like to do this.The first is that com files are smaller >than the equivalent exe files,and I would like to conserve space.The second >is that I am hoping that the com files will run faster than the original exe >file. Well - you are trying something which is useless and may be impossible, as not all .exe files can be converted to .com files. Check bytes 6 and 7 in the .exe file - if they are not 0, the file cannot be converted. But why bother to disassemble the file ? If you cannot run exe2bin on the .exe file now, you will of course not be able to do it after you disassemble and reassemble it - the file would just be identical to the one you started out with. Anyhow - if you disassemble and reassemble the file (using a program like 'Sourcer' from VCOMM), you may only save 1K or less in file size. This may not save any disk space, as the total number of blocks required on the hard disk may be the same. If you really want to save space, try LZEXE, PKLITE or DIET, which produce a compressed .exe file, which will uncompress itself when executed. The program will NOT run any faster or use less RAM, if it is converted to a .com file or compressed, but it may load slightly faster. -frisk Fridrik Skulason University of Iceland | Technical Editor of the Virus Bulletin (UK) | Reserved for future expansion E-Mail: frisk@rhi.hi.is Fax: 354-1-28801 |