Intended audience: IDAPython developers
IDA 7.4 comes with the possibility of using Python 3.
Using Python 3 means that some code, which used to work, might require porting:
print() becoming a function, not a statement
xrange becoming range
__builtin__ becoming builtins
strings being unicode and not sets of bytes
integer division uses // and not /
map() returning a map object, not a list
{}.iteritems() (and similar) are gone
some changes in the import mechanism
…
Those are all well-documented Python 3 specifics, are thoroughly documented, and Python even provides tools to help with the transition.
This guide is not about those, but about IDAPython-specific changes to the API, but many of those being “ripples” of those Python 3 changes.
Note: that all qualified names below use their originating IDAPython module’s name (e.g., ida_kernwin) instead of the ‘umbrella’ idaapi module.
ida_bytes.data_format_t.printf
The value parameter used to be a str, now is bytes
ida_bytes.get_bytes, ida_bytes.get_bytes_and_mask
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
ida_bytes.get_strlit_contents
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
ida_hexrays.mbl_array_t.serialize
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
ida_idp.IDP_Hooks.ev_assemble
Used to return a str, now must return bytes
ida_netnode.netnode.getblob
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
ida_registry.reg_read_binary
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
ida_typeinf.tinfo_t.serialize
Used to return str instances for the ‘type’ and ‘fields’ parts of the tuple, now those are bytes
ida_typeinf.get_numbered_type
Used to return str instances for the ‘type’ and ‘fields’ parts of the tuple, now those are bytes
ida_ua.insn_t.insnpref
Used to return a str, now returns an int
ida_ua.insn_t.segpref
Used to return a str, now returns an int
idautils._cpu.<large vector registers, such as xmm0, ymm0, ...>
Used to return a str, now returns bytes
idautils.Functions.next
idautils.Functions.__next__
Required to turn the type into a proper iterator in Python 3