You can get radare from the GitHub repository: https://github.com/radareorg/radare2
Binary packages are available for a number of operating systems (Ubuntu, Maemo, Gentoo, Windows, iPhone, and so on). But you are highly encouraged to get the source and compile it yourself to better understand the dependencies, to make examples more accessible and, of course, to have the most recent version.
A new stable release is typically published every month.
The radare development repository is often more stable than the 'stable' releases. To obtain the latest version:
$ git clone https://github.com/radareorg/radare2.git
This will probably take a while, so take a coffee break and continue reading this book.
To update your local copy of the repository, use git pull anywhere in the radare2 source code tree:
$ git pull
If you have local modifications of the source, you can revert them (and lose them!) with:
$ git reset --hard HEAD
Or send us a patch:
$ git diff > radare-foo.patch
The most common way to get r2 updated and installed system wide is by using:
$ sys/install.sh
Building with meson + ninja
There is also a work-in-progress support for Meson.
Using clang and ld.gold makes the build faster:
CC=clang LDFLAGS=-fuse-ld=gold meson . release --buildtype=release --prefix ~/.local/stow/radare2/releaseninja -C release# ninja -C release installHelper Scripts
Take a look at the scripts in sys/, they are used to automate stuff related to syncing, building and installing r2 and its bindings.
The most important one is sys/install.sh. It will pull, clean, build and symstall r2 system wide.
Symstalling is the process of installing all the programs, libraries, documentation and data files using symlinks instead of copying the files.
By default it will be installed in /usr/local, but you can specify a different prefix using the argument --prefix.
This is useful for developers, because it permits them to just run 'make' and try changes without having to run make install again.
Cleaning Up
Cleaning up the source tree is important to avoid problems like linking to old objects files or not updating objects after an ABI change.
The following commands may help you to get your git clone up to date:
$ git clean -xdf
$ git reset --hard @~10
$ git pull
If you want to remove previous installations from your system, you must run the following commands:
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
$ make purge
Compilation and Portability
Currently the core of radare2 can be compiled on many systems and architectures, but the main development is done on GNU/Linux with GCC, and on MacOS X with clang. Radare is also known to compile on many different systems and architectures (including TCC and SunStudio).
People often want to use radare as a debugger for reverse engineering. Currently, the debugger layer can be used on Windows, GNU/Linux (Intel x86 and x86_64, MIPS, and ARM), OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD (Intel x86 and x86_64)..
Compared to core, the debugger feature is more restrictive portability-wise. If the debugger has not been ported to your favorite platform, you can disable the debugger layer with the --without-debugger configure script option when compiling radare2.
Note that there are I/O plugins that use GDB, WinDbg, or Wine as back-ends, and therefore rely on presence of corresponding third-party tools (in case of remote debugging - just on the target machine).
To build on a system using acr and GNU Make (e.g. on *BSD systems):
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr
$ gmake
$ sudo gmake install
There is also a simple script to do this automatically:
$ sys/install.sh
Static Build
You can build radare2 statically along with all other tools with the command:
$ sys/static.sh
Meson build
You can use meson + ninja to build:
$ sys/meson.py --prefix=/usr --shared --install
If you want to build locally:
$ sys/meson.py --prefix=/home/$USER/r2meson --local --shared --install
Docker
Radare2 repository ships a Dockerfile that you can use with Docker.
This dockerfile is also used by Remnux distribution from SANS, and is available on the docker registryhub.
Cleaning Up Old Radare2 Installations
./configure --prefix=/old/r2/prefix/installation
make purge
Windows
Radare2 relies on the Meson build system generator to support compilation on all platforms, including Windows. Meson will generate a Visual Studio Solution, all the necessary project files, and wire up the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler for you.
tip You can download nightly binaries from https://ci.appveyor.com/project/radareorg/radare2/history. Be sure to download only from master branch!
Prerequisites
• Visual Studio 2015 (or higher)
• Python 3
• Meson
• Git
Step-by-Step
Install Visual Studio 2015 (or higher)
Visual Studio must be installed with a Visual C++ compiler, supporting C++ libraries, and the appropriate Windows SDK for the target platform version.
• In the Visual Studio 2015 installer, ensure Programming Languages > Visual C++ is selected
• In the Visual Studio 2017+ installers, ensure the Desktop development with C++ workload is selected
If you need a copy of Visual Studio, the Community versions are free and work great.
• Download Visual Studio 2015 Community (registration required)
• Download Visual Studio 2017 Community
Install Python 3 and Meson via Conda
It is strongly recommended you install Conda — a Python environment management system — when working with Python on the Windows platform. This will isolate the Radare2 build environment from other installed Python versions and minimize potential conflicts.
Set Up Conda:
1. Download the appropriate Conda (Python 3.x) for your platform (https://conda.io/miniconda.html)
2. Install Conda with the recommended defaults
Create a Python Environment for Radare2
Follow these steps to create and activate a Conda environment named r2. All instructions from this point on will assume this name matches your environment, but you may change this if desired.
1. Start > Anaconda Prompt
2. conda create -n r2 python=3
3. activate r2
Any time you wish to enter this environment, open the Anaconda Prompt and re-issue activate r2. Conversely, deactivate will leave the environment.
Install Meson
1. Enter the Radare2 Conda environment, if needed (activate r2)
2. Download https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/archive/master.zip
3. pip install \path\to\downloaded\master.zip
4. Verify Meson is version 0.48 or higher (meson -v)
Install Git for Windows
All Radare2 code is managed via the Git version control system and hosted on GitHub.
Follow these steps to install Git for Windows.
1. Download Git for Windows (https://git-scm.com/download/win)
As you navigate the install wizard, we recommend you set these options when they appear: * Use a TrueType font in all console windows * Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt * Use the native Windows Secure Channel library (instead of OpenSSL) * Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings (core.autocrlf=true) * Use Windows' default console window (instead of Mintty)
2. Close any previously open console windows and re-open them to ensure they receive the new PATH
3. Ensure git --version works
Get Radare2 Code
Follow these steps to clone the Radare2 git repository.
1. In your Radare2 Conda environment, navigate to a location where the code will be saved and compiled. This location needs approximately 3-4GiB of space
2. Clone the repository with git clone https://github.com/radareorg/radare2.git
Compile Radare2 Code
Follow these steps to compile the Radare2 Code.
Compiled binaries will be installed into the dest folder.
1. Enter the Radare2 Conda environment
2. Navigate to the root of the Radare2 sources (cd radare2)
3. Initialize Visual Studio tooling by executing the command below that matches the version of Visual Studio installed on your machine and the version of Radare2 you wish to install:
Visual Studio 2015:
Note: For the 64-bit version change only the x86 at the very end of the command below to x64.
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86
Visual Studio 2017:
Note 1: Change Community to either Professional or Enterprise in the command below depending on the version installed.
Note 2: Change vcvars32.bat to vcvars64.bat in the command below for the 64-bit version.
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars32.bat"
Visual Studio Preview:
Note 1: Change Community to either Professional or Enterprise in the command below depending on the version installed.
Note 2: Change vcvars32.bat to vcvars64.bat in the command below for the 64-bit version.
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\Preview\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars32.bat"
4. Generate the build system with Meson:
Note 1: Change debug to release in the command below depending on whether the latest version or release version is desired.
Note 2: If you are using visual studio 2017, you can change swap vs2015 for vs2017.
meson build --buildtype debug --backend vs2015 --prefix %cd%\dest
Meson currently requires --prefix to point to an absolute path. We use the %CD% pseudo-variable to get the absolute path to the current working directory.
5. Start a build:
Note: Change Debug to Release in the command below depending on the version desired.
msbuild build\radare2.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /m
The /m[axcpucount] switch creates one MSBuild worker process per logical processor on your machine. You can specify a numeric value (e.g. /m:2) to limit the number of worker processes if needed. (This should not be confused with the Visual C++ Compiler switch /MP.)
If you get an error with the 32-bit install that says something along the lines of error MSB4126: The specified solution configuration "Debug|x86" is invalid. Get around this by adding the following argument to the command: /p:Platform=Win32
6. Install into your destination folder: meson install -C build --no-rebuild
7. Check your Radare2 version: dest\bin\radare2.exe -v
Check That Radare2 Runs From All Locations
1. In the file explorer go to the folder Radare2 was just installed in.
2. From this folder go to dest > bin and keep this window open.
3. Go to System Properties: In the Windows search bar enter sysdm.cpl.
4. Go to Advanced > Environment Variables.
5. Click on the PATH variable and then click edit (if it exists within both the user and system variables, look at the user version).
6. Ensure the file path displayed in the window left open is listed within the PATH variable. If it is not add it and click ok.
7. Log out of your Windows session.
8. Open up a new Windows Command Prompt: type cmd in the search bar. Ensure that the current path is not in the Radare2 folder.
9. Check Radare2 version from Command Prompt Window: radare2 -v
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