Commands and Variables

heretek intercepts some commands and translates them to GDB MI commands. All other input is passed directly to GDB.

Intercepted Commands

These common GDB commands are intercepted and translated to their MI equivalents for proper async handling:

You type	heretek sends	Notes
`r`, `run`	`-exec-run`	Also sets `mi-async on` and Intel syntax
`c`, `continue`	`-exec-continue`
`si`, `stepi`	`-exec-step-instruction`
`ni`, `nexti`	`-exec-next-instruction`
`s`, `step`	`-exec-step`
`n`, `next`	`-exec-next`
`finish`, `fin`	`-exec-finish`
`until <loc>`	passed through	Marks program as executing
`attach <pid>`	passed through	Also sets Intel syntax
`file <path>`	passed through	Extracts and saves filepath
`hexdump <addr> <len>`	`-data-read-memory-bytes`	Switches to Hexdump view

All other commands (e.g., break main, info registers, x/10x $rsp) are sent directly to GDB.

Arithmetic Expressions

Parenthesized expressions are evaluated before sending to GDB. This lets you do inline math:

hexdump $HERETEK_MAPPING_START_[heap] (0x1000 + 0x200)

The (0x1000 + 0x200) is evaluated to 0x1200 before the command is processed.

Variables

For all commands, the following heretek variables are resolved and expanded before sending to GDB.

`$HERETEK_MAPPING_START_{index}_{section}`

Resolve the start address of the mapping that fits section. The index is optional.

For example, $HERETEK_MAPPING_START_[heap] resolves the start of the heap mapping.

To pick a specific entry when multiple mappings match, use the index. For example, $HERETEK_MAPPING_START_1_a.out picks the second (1th) a.out mapping:

Start Address        End Address          Size                 Offset               Permissions          Path
0x00400000           0x00401000           0x00001000           0x00000000           r--p                 a.out
0x00401000           0x00479000           0x00078000           0x00001000           r-xp                 a.out

This would resolve to 0x00401000.

`$HERETEK_MAPPING_END_{index}_{section}`

Resolve the end address of the mapping that fits section at an optional index.

For example, $HERETEK_MAPPING_END_[heap].

`$HERETEK_MAPPING_LEN_{index}_{section}`

Resolve the length of the mapping that fits section at an optional index.

For example, $HERETEK_MAPPING_LEN_[heap].

Command History

Up to 100 commands are stored in history
Navigate with Up / Down arrow keys
Press Enter on an empty input to repeat the last command
Commands from --cmds file are also added to history

Command File (`-c`)

Use the -c flag to execute commands from a file on startup:

$ heretek -c commands.txt

The file is read line by line. Lines starting with # are treated as comments and skipped. Each command is processed through the same pipeline as interactive input (variable expansion, expression evaluation, command interception).

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