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Tool

PINCE

Linux front end for the GNU Debugger (GDB), focused on games but usable for other reverse engineering; the name stands for “PINCE is not Cheat Engine”. It scans process memory and pointers through libmemscan into a typed address table, and its memory view adds disassembly, an on-the-fly assembler, code dissection for referenced calls, jumps and strings, function, region and instruction searches, and structure overlays, including structures generated from Mono/IL2CPP class dissection of native Linux or Wine/Proton processes. Debugging covers chained breakpoints and watchpoints, tracking of the instructions that access an address, tracing and stack traces, alongside a GDB console and the reusable libpince Python library.

Requirements and limitations

  • Linux only. Latest release at review: v0.10.2, published 2026-09-18, whose tag is the reviewed master commit; it ships an x86_64 AppImage that the README supports on distributions as new as Ubuntu 22.04 or newer.
  • Local development installs run install.sh with APT, Pacman or DNF and need Python 3.11+, PyQt 6.11+ and GDB; Kubuntu 22.04+ and Arch Linux are officially supported, while Debian 12+, Fedora 35+ and openSUSE are only partially supported and not actively tested. The PINCE.sh launcher runs PINCE as root, elevating through pkexec or sudo.
  • Users select a running process of their own to inspect. This entry describes only the memory-inspection, disassembly and debugging features; the README states that users are responsible for their actions and asks that only this GitHub repository be trusted as a source of PINCE code or packages.
  • GPL-3.0-or-later (COPYING); AUTHORS lists the bundled Silk icons in media/icons under CC BY 3.0 (COPYING.CC-BY). No process was attached to or scanned for this entry.

About this entry

Type
Tool
Category
Debugging and dynamic analysis
Relationship
Foundation tool
Targets
Binary · Game

Sources reviewed

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  2. README.md#L25-L67 GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  3. README.md#L92-L116 GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  4. PINCE.sh GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  5. install.sh GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  6. COPYING GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  7. AUTHORS GitHub · korcankaraokcu/PINCE · Revision 9357ba3
  8. https://github.com/korcankaraokcu/PINCE/releases/tag/v0.10.2