# dyld_cache_extract

> macOS application and command-line tool that reads a dyld_shared_cache file from macOS or iOS, shows its header, mappings and image list, and copies one library or every library out to a directory. The CLI offers --info, --extract and --extract-all; the GUI presents the same header details and lets users select images to extract. The README marks the project obsolete and points to the author's dyld-cache-dump.

- Type: Tool
- Targets: App · Binary
- Category: Native analysis tools
- Relationship: Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed: 2026-10-20
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-02
- Original resource: <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/dyld-cache-extract/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/dyld-cache-extract/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/dyld-cache-extract/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- The README marks the project obsolete and refers users to dyld-cache-dump. The last commits, on 2023-06-12, fix the build for the then-current Xcode and update CI and the README. Releases 0.1.0 (2017-03-06) and 0.1.1 (2017-06-18) each attach a zipped Dyld Cache Extractor app; there is no newer release.
- Builds on macOS with Xcode from dyld_cache_extract.xcodeproj, whose schemes cover the CLI tool, the GUI app and the DCE static library; the PIMPL, GitHubUpdates and xcconfig submodules must be initialized. CI builds and analyzes Debug and Release configurations of the CLI and GUI on macos-latest, with tests disabled.
- Needs a dyld_shared_cache file from the user's own macOS or iOS system; the repository contains no caches or extracted libraries. The parser reads only the original header fields (magic, mapping and image tables, dyld base address) of a single cache file and copies each image's bytes plus the __LINKEDIT region; the reviewed code has no split sub-cache handling, and support for current macOS or iOS caches is not documented.
- MIT license (2016, Jean-David Gadina, XS-Labs).

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/LICENSE>
3. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/.gitmodules>
4. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/.github/workflows/ci-mac.yaml>
5. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/DCE/source/CacheFile.cpp>
6. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/blob/b29fbb9266c3c3b072c37c18bef3251105cd40b6/dyld_cache_extract/main.cpp>
7. <https://github.com/macmade/dyld_cache_extract/releases/tag/0.1.1>

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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.