C++ name mangling by hand

Question

I am writing a script for the IDA Pro disassembler in Python using the idapython plugin. Using this, I am able to fill in the gaps where IDA's auto-analysis falls short.

One area that has me stumped is naming locations/functions with (for want of a better term) "pretty names". An example of what I mean is illustrated below:

IDA pretty names sample screenshot

idapython and IDA Pro itself only allow me to enter basic C-ish function names. If I enter disallowed symbols (e.g. the scope resolution operator), they're replaced with underscores. However, if I enter a mangled name by hand (e.g. __ZN9IOService15powerChangeDoneEm), IDA Pro will prettify this for me.

Hence my question: how can I generate mangled names to pass through idapython? Is there a name-mangling library available? Is one available in Python? Is my only hope to tear the mangling functionality out of g++ and work around that?

I would hope there is some doc around that you could look into... good luck! — Matthieu M., Jan 12 '11 at 10:48

Matthieu M. · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-24T06:10:24.647

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I finally got around to dig a little.

Unfortunately I could not find tool, I did find resources though.

If all you want is mangle names in the gcc3 fashion, then know that gcc3 use the Itanium C++ ABI, which has a standardized name mangling scheme. I found two documents:

The Itanium C++ ABI page
A Calling Convention PDF document, which describe the schemes of various compilers

For reference, both come from the Wikipedia page on Name Mangling.

edited Jul 24 '13 at 06:10

answered Jan 12 '11 at 12:28

Matthieu M.

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@ShafikYaghmour: Thanks, I've replaced it with a link to another website (linux-foundation.org). – Matthieu M. Jul 24 '13 at 06:10
I came upon your question b/c of this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11335624/what-is-linux-utility-to-mangle-a-c-symbol-name?lq=1 which is similar – Shafik Yaghmour Jul 24 '13 at 09:31

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 12 '11 at 10:04

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One simple (alebit hacky) method would be to compile a C++ file with the symbol you want in it, then extract the necessary symbols from the .o file's symbol table. With a bit of work this might be nicely scriptable.

answered Jan 12 '11 at 10:04

bdonlan

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I did this on my first C++ program, while at high school. Didn't knew that it wasn't santard or anything else. That helped me implement a module system, allowing the soft (game) to be extended easily. I wasn't even aware that this kind of thing were not trivial. – Klaim Jan 12 '11 at 12:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 12 '11 at 12:37

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Here is an article that explains how mangling is done by Visual compiler. For mangling done by gcc, I think you can find the information in the source of the binutils package.

answered Jan 12 '11 at 12:37

Sylvain Defresne

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João Matos · Answer 4 · 2012-08-14T07:01:23.390

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You can use the Clang AST library, which has a MangleContext class.

http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/classclang_1_1CodeGen_1_1MangleContext.html

edited Aug 14 '12 at 07:01

answered May 12 '12 at 03:22

João Matos

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The link is dead... – einpoklum Jun 20 '22 at 19:35

C++ name mangling by hand

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