How To Install hachoir on Ubuntu 22.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install hachoir on Ubuntu 22.04. hachoir is Python framework to parse and edit binary files

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install hachoir on Ubuntu 22.04.

What is hachoir

hachoir is:

Hachoir is a Python library used to represent of a binary file as a tree of Python objects. Each object has a type, a value, an address, etc. The goal is to be able to know the meaning of each bit in a file.

Why using slow Python code instead of fast hardcoded C code? Hachoir has many interesting features:

  • Autofix: Hachoir is able to open invalid / truncated files
  • Lazy: Open a file is very fast since no information is read from file, data are read and/or computed when the user ask for it
  • Types: Hachoir has many predefined field types (integer, bit, string, etc.) and supports string with charset (ISO-8859-1, UTF-8, UTF-16, …)
  • Addresses and sizes are stored in bit, so flags are stored as classic fields
  • Endian: You have to set endian once, and then number are converted in the right endian
  • Editor: Using Hachoir representation of data, you can edit, insert, remove data and then save in a new file.

Hachoir provides command-line tools using its parsers:

  • hachoir-grep: find a text pattern in a binary file
  • hachoir-metadata: get metadata from binary files
  • hachoir-strip: modify a file to remove metadata
  • hachoir-urwid: display the content of a binary file in text mode
  • hachoir-wx: display the content of a binary file in a GUI

There are three methods to install hachoir on Ubuntu 22.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install hachoir Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install hachoir using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install hachoir

Install hachoir Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install hachoir using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install hachoir

Install hachoir Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install hachoir using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install hachoir

How To Uninstall hachoir on Ubuntu 22.04

To uninstall only the hachoir package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove hachoir

Uninstall hachoir And Its Dependencies

To uninstall hachoir and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 22.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove hachoir

Remove hachoir Configurations and Data

To remove hachoir configuration and data from Ubuntu 22.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge hachoir

Remove hachoir configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove hachoir configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge hachoir

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install hachoir package on Ubuntu 22.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.