1. Getting Started

Welcome! We are glad that you want to contribute to our deobfuscator. This chapter covers everything you need to know to get started.

✨ Best practises

• Add comments in complex areas. ASM is hard, so let's make it easier for others to understand what is happening in code (especially inside transformers).
• Upload obfuscated test class sample. Especially when you are creating a new transformer then test sample is required for it. When someone wants to rewrite some part of the code, then these tests are helping us that we won't break anything.

🪜 Project structure

The project is structured as follows:

• deobfuscator-api - The API for the deobfuscator.
• deobfuscator-impl - The main deobfuscator runner.
• deobfuscator-transformers - Transformers for the deobfuscator.
• reverse-engineering - A place where you can throw your reverse-engineered classes (for example: complex number pool, complex string pool). You can reference them inside your transformers to make them more readable.
• testData - Tests for transformers
  • src/java - You can write your java code to test transformers
  • compiled/custom-classes - Compiled classes to test transformers. You can throw here classes from your obfuscated jars.
  • compiled/custom-jars - Jars to test transformers. You can throw here your obfuscated jars.
  • deobfuscated - Raw classes after a deobfuscation process. Useful when debugging.
  • results - Expected results that are auto-generated decompiled java code.
• TestDeobfuscation.java - Class where each test sample is registered.
• Bootstrap.java - Class where you can run deobfuscator manually.

🧰 Recommended tools

• IntelliJ IDEA - IDE for Java development
• Recaf - Modern java bytecode editor. Use it to analyze obfuscated classes.
• JVM Specification - Java Virtual Machine Specification. Use it to learn more about java bytecode. There are described things like JVM instructions, some terms, etc.
• JVM Manual - Excellent community-made JVM manual that clearly explains most JVM concepts.