Is there a way to reverse engineer an Xcode project from a .app file?

Question

The topic says it all. I\'ve got a .app file here, but the Xcode project is no longer available to me. Is there any way to take the .app file and reverse engineer an Xcode proje

Answer 1

By design this cannot be done. The best you can do is run the app and try to reverse engineer it based on functionality. Stealing the source code is a no-no (and not just because Apple says so).

Answer 2

When you say "the Xcode project is no longer available to me" then I would assume you have written the code or at least have seen it.

It will be definitely much faster to rewrite it than to try to decompile it.

Answer 3

It would be very very difficult. There's no one click solution. However, you could look at class-dump and otool. Just be aware that it's a very manual effort, you'll still be piecing everything together yourself.

Answer 4

• First, the source code is signed and encrypted.

• Second, you're likely legally not allowed to decrypt this source if you are in the United States, Cuba, North Korea and many other countries. I fear it even applies to your own code, since it was encrypted by Apple tools, with an Apple key. Check this with a lawyer, guy in black with scary words and a nice Porsche.

• Third, Objective-C being a compiled language, and LLVM allowing you to do some optimization, you would have a real hard time going back to anything slightly readable. This is no Java/C#.

• Four, you'd better be really, really sure that "the app file is no longer available to me" means you have a legal right to the source in some way. Stealing source code carries some hefty penalties, with fines you can buy yourself a Porsche with. Ask a lawyer :p