gobin

Static analysis library for Go compiled binaries.

This crate extracts metadata that the Go runtime embeds in every binary: function names, source file paths, Go version, module dependencies, build settings, and type descriptors. All of this survives stripping (-ldflags="-s -w") because the runtime needs it at execution time.

Quick start

use gobin::GoBinary;

let data = std::fs::read("some_go_binary").unwrap();
if let Some(bin) = GoBinary::parse(&data) {
    println!("Go version: {}", bin.go_version().unwrap_or("unknown"));
    println!("Functions:  {}", bin.function_count().unwrap_or(0));

    for f in bin.functions() {
        println!("  {}", f.name);
    }
}

What it parses

Format detection for ELF, Mach-O, and PE binaries
Build ID extraction (ELF note + raw text-segment marker)
Build info blob: Go version, module path, dependencies, build settings (GOOS, GOARCH, VCS info)
pclntab (PC/line table): function names, source file paths, line numbers, entry offsets
Type descriptors: abi.Type structs via .typelink section or moduledata walking
Architecture inference from pclntab header fields (minLC, ptrSize)
Confidence scoring: High (structural proof), Medium (version string), Low (heuristic)

Example tool

The included dump example produces a full metadata dump of a Go binary:

cargo run --example dump -- path/to/go_binary

Disclaimer

The Go binary format is defined by the Go compiler and runtime source code (src/runtime/, src/internal/abi/, src/cmd/link/). All structure layouts and field semantics in this crate are derived from the Go 1.26.1 source tree. The pclntab format has been stable across versions with well-defined magic numbers for version detection, but future Go releases may introduce changes.

License