JadRetro is a command-line utility that could help You to successfully decompile Java classes created by the modern Java compilers (of Java 1.4, Java 1.5 or later).
JadRetro operates by transforming the specified Java class files (if needed) into ones which could be processed correctly by an old Java decompiler (designed to work with classes of Java 1.3 or earlier).
JadRetro is not a decompiler itself, it is a class transformer helping some old (but good) Java decompilers to convert more class files and/or generate more correct source code.
To get the latest JadRetro release binaries or the source code, please visit "Browse files for JadRetro".
You use this software at your own risk. This application is for legal use only. All rights reserved.
Download the binary distributive file appropriate to your host platform.
Extract the contents of the distributive file (preserving the directories
structure) into any appropriate place (eg., "C:\Program Files"
for Windows, "/usr/share" for Linux) on your hard drive. No other
setup is required.
To uninstall the software, just remove "jadretro" directory.
JadRetro is officially built for the following platforms:
The native binary files (for Windows and Linux) are created using the JCGO tool and the corresponding C/C++ compiler (MinGW and GNU/Linux GCC, respectively).
Note for the JavaVM platform: JadRetro could be compiled to and works correctly even on an ancient JDK v1.0.2.
The Java classes to be processed are specified (in the command line) by their file path names; if a directory (folder) path name is specified instead then all the classes contained in it (or in its sub-directories recursively) are processed; the wildcards are allowed for path names.
The allowed command-line options are:
JadRetro is tested with class files created by Sun "javac" (v1.3.1, v1.4.1, v1.4.2, v1.5.0, v1.6.0).
JadRetro is tested only with the well-known "Jad" tool (the fast Java Decompiler) v1.5.8g.
Tips for use with "Jad" tool:
Sample usage (for Windows):
copy /b someLocation\somePackage\SomeClass*.class tempLocation
jadretro tempLocation\SomeClass*.class
jad tempLocation\SomeClass.class
While JadRetro improves the "quality" of the source code produced by a Java decompiler, it does not help in all cases (i.e., not all classes could be decompiled and not all decompiled classes could be compiled back without modifications).
The application terminates execution with one of the error codes:
Any questions, suggestions, bug reports and patches are welcomed at the JadRetro site tracker (hosted at SourceForge.net).
Links to Jad and related tools:
Links to other Java decompilers:
For more links, please visit "Java and C/C++ developer web resources" hosted on the JCGO project (a java2c/java2exe solution) site.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License (GPL) for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination.
As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.