Development Setup

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Requirements

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Minimum Requirements

• JDK 21 64-bit - Adoptium Temurin
• Gradle 8.5+ - Download (or use Gradle wrapper)
• Python 3.9-3.13 - For PyGhidra and build scripts
• Ghidra 11.2+ - Release

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Platform-Specific Requirements

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Eclipse Setup

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Install Eclipse

1. Download Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
2. Extract and launch Eclipse
3. Choose a workspace directory (avoid spaces in path)

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Install GhidraDev Plugin

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Configure Ghidra Installation

1. GhidraDev → Preferences → Ghidra Installations
2. Click Add…
3. Browse to Ghidra installation directory
4. Click OK

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Import Ghidra Source (Optional)

# Clone Ghidra repository
git clone https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra.git
cd ghidra

# Download dependencies
gradle -I gradle/support/fetchDependencies.gradle

# Setup development environment
gradle prepdev eclipse buildNatives

1. File → Import… → General → Existing Projects into Workspace
2. Select Ghidra source root directory
3. Check Search for nested projects
4. Click Finish

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VSCode Setup

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Install VSCode

1. Download Visual Studio Code
2. Install the Extension Pack for Java

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Configure Ghidra Integration

1. Tools → Create VSCode Module Project
2. Follow the wizard to create a new project
3. Open the project in VSCode

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Edit Scripts

• Click the VSCode icon in Ghidra’s Script Manager
• VSCode will open with the selected script
• Edit and save (Ghidra will detect changes)

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Creating Projects

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Ghidra Script Project

1. GhidraDev → New → Ghidra Script Project
2. Enter project name and location
3. Select Ghidra installation
4. Choose script directories:
   • Home scripts - ~/ghidra_scripts (recommended)
   • Installation scripts - Ghidra installation directory
5. (Optional) Enable Python support with PyDev
6. (Optional) Create run configuration
7. Click Finish

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Ghidra Module Project

1. GhidraDev → New → Ghidra Module Project
2. Enter project name and location
3. Select Ghidra installation
4. Choose template (optional):
   • Analyzer - Auto-analysis component
   • Plugin - UI component
   • Loader - Binary format support
   • Exporter - Output format
   • File System - Container format
5. (Optional) Enable Python support
6. (Optional) Create run configuration
7. Click Finish

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Import Existing Module

1. GhidraDev → Import Ghidra Module Source
2. Browse to module source directory
3. Select Ghidra installation
4. Click Finish

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PyDev Setup (Python Support)

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Install PyDev

1. Download PyDev from official site
2. In Eclipse: Help → Install New Software…
3. Click Add… → Local…
4. Select PyDev directory
5. Click OK
6. Uncheck “Group items by category”
7. Check PyDev for Eclipse
8. Click Next → Next
9. Accept license
10. Click Finish → Restart Now

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Configure Python Interpreter

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Launching and Debugging

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Run Configurations

1. Ghidra - Launch GUI
2. Ghidra Headless - Batch processing

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Create Run Configuration

1. Right-click project → Run As → Ghidra
2. Configuration is created automatically

1. Run → Run Configurations…
2. Right-click Ghidra → New
3. Main tab → Browse to select project
4. (Optional) Rename configuration
5. Click Apply → Run

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Debug Configuration

1. Right-click project → Debug As → Ghidra
2. Eclipse switches to Debug perspective
3. Set breakpoints in your code
4. Use standard Eclipse debugging tools

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Headless Configuration

1. Create run configuration (as above)
2. Arguments tab → Program arguments
3. Add headless options:

<project_path> <project_name> -process <program_name> -postScript <script.java>

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Environment Variables

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Heap Memory

1. In run configuration → Arguments tab
2. VM arguments: -Xmx4G (or higher)

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Headless Linux CI

Xvfb :99 -nolisten tcp &
export DISPLAY=:99

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Troubleshooting

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Eclipse Compilation Errors

1. Collapse all projects in Package Explorer
2. Delete projects with ? icons (check “Delete contents on disk”)
3. Delete remaining projects (leave contents on disk)
4. Run: gradle prepdev cleanEclipse eclipse buildNatives
5. Re-import projects

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Missing Run Configurations

• Verify .launch files exist in module directories
• Close and reopen Eclipse
• Never manually import launch configurations

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Extension Not Discovered

1. Right-click project → GhidraDev → Link Ghidra…
2. Select Ghidra installation
3. Click OK

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Python Build Errors

• Ensure Python has pip installed
• Consider using a Python virtual environment
• Check system locale: export LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8

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Next Steps