Introduction

This tool statically (AOT) translates (or raises) binaries to LLVM IR.

Building as part of the LLVM tree

cd llvm-project && git clone https://github.com/TBSI-RIOS-Lab/elf-lifter llvm/tools/elf-lifter

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G "Ninja" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="X86;ARM" -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="clang;lld" -DLLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS=true -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ../llvm
ninja 

Usage

llvm-mctoll <ELF>

Command	Description
-dh or --help	Display available options
-d <binary>	Generate LLVM IR for a binary and place the result in <binary>-dis.ll
--filter-functions-file=<file>	Text file with C functions to exclude or include during raising
--include-files=[file1,file2,file3,...] or -I file1 -I file2 -I file3	Specify full path of one or more files with function prototypes to use
-debug	Print all debug output
-debug-only=mctoll	Print the LLVM IR after each pass of the raiser
-debug-only=prototypes	Print ignored duplicate function prototypes in --include-files

See usage document for additional details of command-line options.

Checking correctness of translation

The easiest way to check the raised LLVM IR <binary>-dis.ll is correct is to compile the IR to an executable using clang and run the resulting executable. The tests in the repository follow this methodology.