AwesomeREA.org

Tool

Reko

General-purpose decompiler that loads executables or raw images, scans their machine code into a machine-independent register transfer language, groups it into procedures and decompiles them into high-level C code. The reviewed source has 64 architecture directories, from 6502, Z80 and PDP-11 to ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, RISC-V and x86, and loaders for formats including ELF, PE/MZ, Mach-O, COFF, Amiga Hunk, VMS, WebAssembly, Xbox XBE and Xbox 360 XEX. It runs as a Windows Forms GUI, a command-line client or a .NET library, and project files and scripts let users add names, types and comments.

Requirements and limitations

  • Latest release at review: 0.12.5, published 2026-09-29, with x86 and x64 Windows MSI installers and command-line and GUI zip builds; the Reko.Decompiler.Runtime NuGet package is also at 0.12.5. The reviewed master commit, from 2026-10-14, is ten commits ahead of that release.
  • Requires .NET 9.0. Source builds use the .NET 9.0 SDK, or Visual Studio 2026 for IDE users, plus CMake for the NativeProxy project; the WiX toolset is needed only for MSI installers. CI builds on Ubuntu, Windows and macOS. The cross-platform Avalonia GUI is still under development, and the user guide's non-Windows instructions still mention AppVeyor builds and Mono.
  • Input is a binary the user has the right to decompile; the README warns that many software licenses prohibit decompilation. Raw images need the loader, architecture, base and entry addresses given explicitly. The user guide says useful decompilation usually needs the user to supply types, names and comments, and that a heuristic scan may be needed when indirect jumps or calls hide code.
  • GPL-2.0 (COPYING). The complete architecture and format list is on the project wiki, which was not reviewed; the architecture and loader directories were counted, not exercised. The repository's subjects directory holds regression samples collected from other sources together with Reko's output for them; it is test data, not part of the tool. No binaries were decompiled.

About this entry

Type
Tool
Category
Native analysis tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Targets
Binary · Firmware

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 · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  2. doc/guide/reko.md GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  3. doc/guide/cli.md GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  4. src/Arch GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  5. src/ImageLoaders GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  6. .github/workflows/reko.yml GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  7. subjects/README.md GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  8. COPYING GitHub · uxmal/reko · Revision 63c497a
  9. https://github.com/uxmal/reko/releases/tag/version-0.12.5
  10. https://www.nuget.org/packages/Reko.Decompiler.Runtime/0.12.5