TILIB

TILIB it's a utility to create a custom type libraries for IDA Pro. You can download it from My Hex-Rays Portal.

This small utility creates type library (til) files for IDA Pro. Its functionality overlaps with "Parse C header file..." from IDA Pro. However, this utility is easier to use and provides more control over the output. Also, it can handle the preprocessor symbols, while the built-in command ignores them.

The utility takes a C header file and extracts all type information from it. The extracted type information is stored in an internal format as a type library file. Type library files can be loaded and used in IDA Pro by opening the Type Library Window and pressing Insert.

TILIB support only C header files. C++ files (classes, templates, etc) are not supported, but some popular C++ keywords are recognized and properly handled. For example, TILIB knows about the inline keyword and properly skips the definition of the inline function.

Installation

1. Just copy the tilib executable file into the IDA Pro directory.

If you prefer to keep it in another directory, you will need to specify the location of the ida.hlp file using the NLSPATH variable:

set NLSPATH=c:\program files\ida

Please note that you do not need to define this variable if you just copy the tilib executable file to the IDA Pro directory.

Usage

If started without parameters, the utility displays a short explanation. Below are some command line samples.

Parse a header file and create a new type library:

tilib -c -hinput_header_file output_til_file

• -c means to create a new type library

• -h denotes the name of the input file to read

If you need to parse multiple files into one type library, you may create a text file with #include directives and specify it as the input.

TILIB can handle input files for Visual Studio, Borland, GCC out of the box. Please check the configuration files for them in the archive (*.cfg).

If you need to fine-tune TILIB for another compiler (or unusual compiler settings), feel free to copy the provided configuration files and modify them.

TILIB is not very good at error handling and some error messages may be quite unhelpful (e.g. syntax error). To alleviate this problem, use the -z switch. If this switch is specified, TILIB will create a .i file with the preprocessed contents. All recognized type names are prepended with @, like this: @my_type_name.

In some urgent cases, the -e switch may be used to ignore any parsing errors. Please note that the problematic type definitions will be skipped in this mode. This switch may be used together with the -R switch to allow type redeclarations.

If your input file uses another header file (e.g. windows.h), you may opt to use the vc6win.til file instead of parsing it again. For that, just use the -b switch and specify vc6win.til as the base til. TILIB will load the contents of the specified file into the memory and parse the input file. All definitions from windows.h, including the preprocessor definitions, will be avaible:

tilib -c -hinput_header_file -bbase_til_file output_til_file

TILIB can also be used to list the contents of a til file:

tilib -l input_til_file

If the -c switch is not specified, TILIB uses the specified til file as the input and as the output file. This mode allows you to modify existing til files.

How to create preprocessor macro enums?

TILIB can also convert selected preprocessor macros into enums. If the input file has lines like the following:

#define MY_SYMBOL_ONE   1
#define MY_SYMBOL_TWO   2
#define MY_SYMBOL_THREE 3

they can be converted to enum and used in IDA Pro. This is a three step process. At the first step, we create a .mac file (note the -M switch):

tilib -c -Moutput_mac_file -hinput_header_file output_til_file

The second step is to edit the generated MAC file: to remove undesired macro definitions and regroup macros if necessary. Macro group names start at the beginning of a line, symbol definitions are indented:

MY_SYMBOL
  MY_SYMBOL_ONE   1
  MY_SYMBOL_TWO   2
  MY_SYMBOL_THREE 3

Feel free to edit the macro file to your taste.

It is also possible to describe the changes to the macro group names and rerun TILIB to regenerate the macro file. There are two ways to describe the changes:

1. Through the -g[nb]X:Y command-line options. If the regex X matches the macro name (n) or the macro body (b), the group is set to Y. For example:

   tilib -gnFOO_:ERRORS -gbERR:ERRORS -c -Moutput_mac_file -hinput_header_file output_til_file

   with this header file:

   #define ERR(x)  x
   #define FOO_OK  0
   #define FOO_BAD 1
   #define BAR_BAD ERR(-1)

   produces this macro file:

   ERRORS
   FOO_OK 0
   FOO_BAD 1
   BAR_BAD -1

   Using an empty regex will prevent the group from being created (useful when you want to leave a group name available from a base til).

2. Adding a tilib-specific #pragma to the header files:

   #pragma tilib-group ERRNO
   // all macros before resetting tilib-group will be added to the ERRNO group
   #include <errno.h>
   #pragma tilib-group

3. The third and last step is to specify the macro file as the input for TILIB:

   tilib -c -minput_mac_file -hinput_header_file output_til_file

The generated til file will have all normal type definitions and all macro definitions from the .mac file.

List of supported keywords

Below is the list of supported keywords. If your header files happen to have an unsupported keyword, you take one of the following actions:

• edit the input files and remove the unsupported keywords

• use #define to replace or hide the unsupported keywords

• use the -D command line switch for the same purpose

__cdecl     do       goto      return     protected      __ptr32
__pascal    if       long      signed     __unaligned    __ptr64
__stdcall   _es      cpp_this  sizeof     __userpurge    __restrict
__fastcall  _cs      void      static     _BYTE          __hidden
__thiscall  _ss      break     struct     _WORD          __array_ptr
__usercall  _ds      catch     switch     _DWORD         __struct_ptr
__export    asm      class     default    _QWORD         __return_ptr
__import    for      const     mutable    _OWORD
__thread    int      float     private    _TBYTE
__declspec  new      short     typedef    _UNKNOWN
__far       try      throw     virtual    _BOOL1
__near      auto     union     continue   _BOOL2
__huge      bool     while     register   _BOOL4
__int8      case     double    template   __spoils
__int16     char     extern    unsigned   __attribute__
__int32     else     friend    volatile   __pure
__int64     enum     inline    interrupt  __noreturn
__int128    flat     public    namespace  __cppobj

What's next?

Learn more about TILIB utility and check Igor's tip of the week about creating custom libraries.