Re: Patching distributed EXE's
- Posted by Chris Bensler <bensler at MAILOPS.COM> Jan 25, 2001
- 518 views
Hehe.. I've tried similar things b4, for learning reasons, but the binaries never work afterwards.. I don't know enough about the ins and outs of exe's to acheive this. Other than the limitations on compiled binary string sizes, I know nothing about it.. I could write the anylzer and delta progs, but I wouldn't be able to take into account binary formatting.. What if I did the anylzer and delta, and you could work in the nuances that the binaries would have to follow? Chris On Wed, 24 Jan 2001 16:09:18 -0800, George Henry <ghenryca at LYCOS.COM> wrote: >Hi Chris, > >Write a program that analyzes the difference between two files and outputs a set of instructions for transforming one into the other - a "delta file". Then write another program to execute those instructions. Ha ha, easier said than done, esp. with binary files, but wouldn't it be a good exercise? Something you could contribute to the archives, too. (This is on *my* to do list - when I get around to it, which of course may be never.) > >George > >-- > >On Wed, 24 Jan 2001 13:25:29 > Chris Bensler wrote: >>hi, >> >> I know I can modify the binary, but I don't like that idea. Not that I >>have any particular need for it now, but in the future, if I want to >>distribute an exe, and by chance it contains an error. I would like to be >>able to fix it without the user having to download the entire file again, >>or something of similar size. I'm wondering if there's a way to re-include >>a source file that contains the bug fix without having to recompile the >>exe. Or will the patch just end up being too big? Would I have to include >>the compiler to do so? >>Do I make sense? LOL >> >>Chris >> >>Kat wrote: >> >>>On 24 Jan 2001, at 12:18, chris bensler wrote: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> Just curious, is it possible to patch an EXE file created with EU? >>> >>>Depends on what you mean by "patch". Since everything is a file of bytes, >>>you can always replace bytes, but the code may or maynot do what you >>>expect afterwards. Just look at microsoft, they haveto send out patches >>>*all* the time. >>> >>>Kat >> > > >Get your small business started at Lycos Small Business at http://www.lycos.com/business/mail.html