gbdsm

A minimal GameBoy ROM disassembler.

Features

• Only depends on libstdc++
• Allows range disassembly by specifying start and end addresses for disassembly.
• Allows for disassembly using either linear sweep or recursive search algorithms.

Usage

gbdsm '/path/to/rom.gb' [-h] [-b address] [-e address] [--linear | --recursive]

Optional arguments:
-h            show this help message and exit.
-b address    set the starting address for the disassembler in decimal. Defaults to 0x0.
-e address    set the end address for the disassembler in decimal. Defaults to the end of ROM.
--linear      use the linear sweep algorithm for disassembly. This algorithm is the default.
--recursive   use the recursive search algorithm for disassembly.

For more information about the different algorithms, consult the man page.

Building

gbdsm uses a standard Makefile for building and installing. A version of g++ supporting C++14 is required.

Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the sources and run make. This will build the executable named gbdsm into that directory. By default, a release version will be built. To build a debug version, use the make debug command.

To remove artifacts, use the make clean command.

Installing

To install the executable on your system, type sudo make install. This will place the gbdsm executable in your /opt/bin directory by default and install the man page. To customize the installation directory, set the INSTALL_DIR variable when running make: sudo make install INSTALL_DIR=/path/to/install

NOTE: In order to access gbdsm without using the full path /opt/bin/gbdsm, you may need to add /opt/bin to your PATH.

Uninstalling

To uninstall, simply run sudo make uninstall. This will remove the gbdsm executable from /opt/bin by default and uninstall the man page. If you opted to install the program elsewhere, you will need to supply the installation directory when running make: sudo make uninstall INSTALL_DIR=/path/to/install

Examples

Here is an example showing the disassembly for the address range [0, 20) for the GameBoy boot ROM:

> ./gbdsm boot.gb -b 0 -e 20

LD SP,$FFFE       ; $0000
XOR A             ; $0003
LD HL,$9FFF       ; $0004
LD (HL-),A        ; $0007
BIT 7,H           ; $0008
JR NZ,$0007       ; $000A
LD HL,$FF26       ; $000C
LD C,$0011        ; $000F
LD A,$0080        ; $0011
LD (HL-),A        ; $0013