From 7bdb581297ed68084558d94133d98adbdee08e0c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Richard W.M. Jones" Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:46:05 +0000 Subject: Refresh documentation. --- generator/generator.ml | 79 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------- 1 file changed, 49 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-) (limited to 'generator') diff --git a/generator/generator.ml b/generator/generator.ml index 7c43f1f..7e706d1 100755 --- a/generator/generator.ml +++ b/generator/generator.ml @@ -156,8 +156,7 @@ but instead are lost. See L."; "root", (RNode, [AHive]), "return the root node of the hive", "\ -Return root node of the hive. All valid registries must contain -a root node."; +Return root node of the hive. All valid hives must contain a root node."; "node_name", (RString, [AHive; ANode "node"]), "return the name of the node", @@ -310,9 +309,9 @@ C is the node to modify."; "node_set_value", (RErr, [AHive; ANode "node"; ASetValue; AUnusedFlags]), "set a single (key, value) pair at a given node", "\ -This call can be used to replace a single (key, value) pair -stored in C. If the key does not already exist, then a -new key is added. Key matching is case insensitive. +This call can be used to replace a single C<(key, value)> pair +stored in C. If the key does not already exist, then a +new key is added. Key matching is case insensitive. C is the node to modify."; ] @@ -850,29 +849,40 @@ Link with I<-lhivex>. =head1 DESCRIPTION -libhivex is a library for extracting the contents of Windows Registry +Hivex is a library for extracting the contents of Windows Registry \"hive\" files. It is designed to be secure against buggy or malicious registry files. -Unlike many other tools in this area, it doesn't use the textual .REG -format for output, because parsing that is as much trouble as parsing -the original binary format. Instead it makes the file available -through a C API, or there is a separate program to export the hive as -XML (see L), or to navigate the file (see L). +Unlike other tools in this area, it doesn't use the textual .REG +format, because parsing that is as much trouble as parsing the +original binary format. Instead it makes the file available +through a C API, and then wraps this API in higher level scripting +and GUI tools. + +There is a separate program to export the hive as XML +(see L), or to navigate the file (see L). +There is also a Perl script to export and merge the +file as a textual .REG (regedit) file, see L. + +If you just want to export or modify the Registry of a Windows +virtual machine, you should look at L. + +Hivex is also comes with language bindings for +OCaml, Perl and Python. =head1 TYPES -=head2 hive_h * +=head2 C This handle describes an open hive file. -=head2 hive_node_h +=head2 C This is a node handle, an integer but opaque outside the library. Valid node handles cannot be 0. The library returns 0 in some situations to indicate an error. -=head2 hive_type +=head2 C The enum below describes the possible types for the value(s) stored at each node. Note that you should not trust the @@ -891,13 +901,13 @@ programs store everything (including strings) in binary blobs. pr "\ }; -=head2 hive_value_h +=head2 C This is a value handle, an integer but opaque outside the library. Valid value handles cannot be 0. The library returns 0 in some situations to indicate an error. -=head2 hive_set_value +=head2 C The typedef C is used in conjunction with the C call described below. @@ -929,7 +939,7 @@ here. Often it's not documented at all. fun (shortname, style, _, longdesc) -> let name = "hivex_" ^ shortname in pr "=head2 %s\n" name; - pr "\n"; + pr "\n "; generate_c_prototype ~extern:false name style; pr "\n"; pr "%s\n" longdesc; @@ -1062,7 +1072,9 @@ Changing the root node. =item * Creating a new hive file from scratch. This is impossible at present -because not all fields in the header are understood. +because not all fields in the header are understood. In the hivex +source tree is a file called C which could be used as +the basis for a new hive (but I). =item * @@ -1177,18 +1189,21 @@ empty string for the default key). The value is a typed object =head2 RELATIONSHIP TO .REG FILES -Although this library does not care about or deal with Windows reg -files, it's useful to look at the relationship between the registry -itself and reg files because they are so common. +The hivex C library does not care about or deal with Windows .REG +files. Instead we push this complexity up to the Perl +L library and the Perl programs +L and L. +Nevertheless it is useful to look at the relationship between the +Registry and .REG files because they are so common. -A reg file is a text representation of the registry, or part of the +A .REG file is a textual representation of the registry, or part of the registry. The actual registry hives that Windows uses are binary files. There are a number of Windows and Linux tools that let you -generate reg files, or merge reg files back into the registry hives. +generate .REG files, or merge .REG files back into the registry hives. Notable amongst them is Microsoft's REGEDIT program (formerly known as REGEDT32). -A typical reg file will contain many sections looking like this: +A typical .REG file will contain many sections looking like this: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\Stack] \"@\"=\"Generic Stack\" @@ -1207,7 +1222,8 @@ Taking this one piece at a time: This is the path to this node in the registry tree. The first part, C means that this comes from a hive -(file) called C. C<\\Classes\\Stack> is the real path part, +file called C. +C<\\Classes\\Stack> is the real path part, starting at the root node of the C hive. Below the node name is a list of zero or more key-value pairs. Any @@ -1217,7 +1233,7 @@ attached. \"@\"=\"Generic Stack\" This is the \"default key\". In reality (ie. inside the binary hive) -the key string is the empty string. In reg files this is written as +the key string is the empty string. In .REG files this is written as C<@> but this has no meaning either in the hives themselves or in this library. The value is a string (type 1 - see C above). @@ -1226,8 +1242,8 @@ above). This is a regular (key, value) pair, with the value being a type 1 string. Note that inside the binary file the string is likely to be -UTF-16 encoded. This library converts to and from UTF-8 strings -transparently. +UTF-16LE encoded. This library converts to and from UTF-8 strings +transparently in some cases. \"TilePath\"=str(2):\"%%systemroot%%\\\\system32\" @@ -1241,9 +1257,9 @@ The value in this case is a dword (type 4). \"FriendlyTypeName\"=hex(2):40,00,.... -This value is an expanded string (type 2) represented in the reg file +This value is an expanded string (type 2) represented in the .REG file as a series of hex bytes. In this case the string appears to be a -UTF-16 string. +UTF-16LE string. =head1 NOTE ON THE USE OF ERRNO @@ -1301,9 +1317,12 @@ useful for debugging problems with the library itself. =head1 SEE ALSO +L, L, L, +L, L, +L, L, L, L, -- cgit