# Boomerang Decompiler

> Fork of the SourceForge Boomerang project, a general machine-code decompiler that translates executables into C. The README lists x86 (IA-32 only), PowerPC and ST20 code in ELF, PE, DOS MZ, DOS/4GW LE and Mach-O files; instruction semantics are defined in SSL specification files, and library signature files plus printf- and scanf-style format strings help recover types. It provides a boomerang-cli command-line tool and a Qt boomerang-gui application, with unit, regression and recompilation test suites.

- Type: Tool
- Targets: Binary
- Category: Native analysis tools
- Relationship: Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed: 2026-10-27
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-03
- Original resource: <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/blob/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/Readme.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/boomerang-decompiler/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/boomerang-decompiler/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/boomerang-decompiler/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- Inactive legacy project: the reviewed develop commit of 2020-12-28 is the repository's last push, and the Changelog still marks v0.6.0 as in development. The last release, v0.5.2 (2020-01-11), provides Linux x86_64 and Windows x64 builds, while the README recommends building develop from source.
- Building needs a 64-bit OS, a C++17 compiler (GCC 7+, Clang 6+ or MSVC 2017+), CMake 3.13+, Qt5 (5.12+ known to work), Capstone 4.0.1+, GNU bison 3.3+ and flex 2.6+; Python 3 runs the regression tests, which are not supported on Windows. The README documents Linux, macOS 10.13+ with Xcode 10 and Homebrew, and Windows with Visual Studio 2017.
- Supply the executable to decompile. x86 support covers 32-bit code only, the v0.6.0 development line removed SPARC support, and the generated C needs analyst review.
- data/samples commits about 240 small test binaries for macOS, DOS, ELF, PowerPC, Windows and x86, most named after the test programs in tests/recompilation-tests and tests/sources, plus three Linux distribution builds of the true utility; tests/regression-tests stores the expected decompiler output for them. data/signatures holds hand-written library prototype files, not vendor headers.
- BSD-style terms in LICENSE.TERMS, carried over from the University of Queensland, Sun Microsystems and the original authors; GitHub reports no SPDX match.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/blob/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/Readme.md>
2. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/blob/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/Changelog.md>
3. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/blob/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/LICENSE.TERMS>
4. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/tree/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/data/samples>
5. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/tree/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/data/signatures>
6. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/tree/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/data/ssl>
7. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/tree/411041305f90d1d7c994f67255b5c03ea8666e60/tests>
8. <https://github.com/BoomerangDecompiler/boomerang/releases/tag/v0.5.2>

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.