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The unexpected effectiveness of one-shot decompilation with Claude

submitted by knacke+(OP) on 2025-11-28 17:07:48 | 185 points 97 comments
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33. jasonj+Iwo[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-06 17:01:00
>>rlili+xjo
It would be "source available", if anything, not "open source".

> An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified or shared (with or without modification) under defined terms and conditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Companies have been really abusing what open source means- claiming something is "open source" cause they share the code and then having a license that says you can't use any part of it in any way.

Similarly if you ever use that software or depending on where you downloaded it from, you might have agreed not to decompile or read the source code. Using that code is a gamble.

35. simonw+qxo[view] [source] 2025-12-06 17:06:22
>>knacke+(OP)
For anyone else who was initially confused by this, useful context is that Snowboard Kids 2 is an N64 game.

I also wasn't familiar with this terminology:

> You hand it a function; it tries to match it, and you move on.

In decompilation "matching" means you found a function block in the machine code, wrote some C, then confirmed that the C produces the exact same binary machine code once it is compiled.

The author's previous post explains this all in a bunch more detail: https://blog.chrislewis.au/using-coding-agents-to-decompile-...

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49. DrNosf+NHo[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-06 18:30:48
>>jasonj+Iwo
But, for example, isn't Cannonball (SEGA Outrun source port) open source?

https://github.com/djyt/cannonball

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53. jasonj+uMo[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-06 19:06:19
>>DrNosf+NHo
No it is not. There is no license in that repository.

Relevant: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/82431

> When you make a creative work (which includes code), the work is under exclusive copyright by default. Unless you include a license that specifies otherwise, nobody else can copy, distribute, or modify your work without being at risk of take-downs, shake-downs, or litigation. Once the work has other contributors (each a copyright holder), “nobody” starts including you.

https://choosealicense.com/no-permission/

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54. jasonj+0No[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-06 19:10:07
>>yieldc+jLo
Whether or not something is "free" is a separate matter and subject to how the software is licensed. If there is no license it is, by definition "source available", not open source. "source available" is not some new distinction I'm making up.

See my other comment: >>46175760

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68. virapt+fXo[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-06 20:40:59
>>yieldc+jLo
This is not a space for "language evolves". Open source has very specific definitions and the distinctions there matter for legal purposes https://opensource.org/licenses
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97. seba_d+zxp[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-07 02:36:46
>>jasonj+uMo
There is a license: https://github.com/djyt/cannonball/blob/master/docs/license....

...but it's very clearly not an open source license.

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