Mac OS X cracking

[JMI]

I certainly do miss MACNosy. I started using it shortly after it was developed and actually met with its author several times, including at several MAC World conventions in San Francisco, quite a few years ago. I used MACNosy to remove the protection from PACE protected music software back in the 1980's.

The information about GDB is, of course, in the first search string I gave you. You would also find, and perhaps read an interesting PDF file titled:

A Debugger with GUI for OS X

which is a Master's Thesis by a student at Gothenburg University. The abstract states:

"This thesis describes the process of designing and implementing a debugger with a graphical user interface that is to execute under OS X on Apple Macintosh computers."

There is also discussion of a tool called "GNAT For Machintosh OS X" which I believe to be a script debugger. There are several others in the materials found with the search criteria.

There is a site called: Hardening Your Macintosh
with interesting information about OS X and has a link to security vulneribilities related to things OS X.

You might even have found something called:

Mac OS X Hacking & Cracking fun pack

Let me just repeat the mantra. If you want to leard how to debug a particular brand of software, you have to learn about the software and "how it works." So far, it would appear that you wish to skip Step A and go directly to Step B, without any really good understanding of the OS and how it works. Your privilege, of course, but you won't really improve your knowledge of the subject by simply looking for "one click fixes all" type solutions. There is simply no substitute for actually taking the time to study your intended "target."

If you understand some of how the software works, particularily at the debugger/debugging level, you have a much better chance of figuring out efforts by protectionists at mucking with your debugger to prevent you from cracking their protection. If you really do not understant that basic concept, you are at the mercy of waiting until someone else "solves" a particular problem for you and gives you a tool to "click" on. Again, you get to choose.

Regards,