235 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
235 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
Verpatch - a tool to patch win32 version resources on .exe or .dll files,
|
|
|
|
Version: 01-Nov-2009 (rev. #7 for CodeProject) edited
|
|
|
|
Verpatch is a command line tool for adding and editing the version information
|
|
of Windows executable files (applications, DLLs, kernel drivers)
|
|
without rebuilding the executable.
|
|
|
|
It can also add or replace Win32 (native) resources, and do some other
|
|
modifications of executable files.
|
|
|
|
Verpatch sets ERRORLEVEL 0 on success, otherwise errorlevel is non-zero.
|
|
Verpatch modifies files in place, so please make copies of precious files.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Command line syntax
|
|
===================
|
|
|
|
verpatch filename [version] [/options]
|
|
|
|
Where
|
|
- filename : any Windows PE file (exe, dll, sys, ocx...) that can have native resources
|
|
- version : one to four decimal numbers, separated by dots, ex.: 1.2.3.4
|
|
Additional text can follow the numbers; see examples below. Ex.: "1.2.3.4 extra text"
|
|
- options: see below
|
|
|
|
Common Options:
|
|
|
|
/va - creates a version resource. Use when the file has no version resource at all,
|
|
or existing version resource should be replaced.
|
|
If this option not specified, verpatch will patch the version resourse found in the file.
|
|
/s name "value" - add a version resource string attribute
|
|
The name can be either a full attribute name or alias; see below.
|
|
/sc "comment" - add or replace Comments string (shortcut for /s Comments "comment")
|
|
/pv <version> - specify Product version
|
|
where <version> arg has same form as the file version (1.2.3.4 or "1.2.3.4 text")
|
|
/fn - preserves Original filename, Internal name in the existing version resource of the file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other options:
|
|
|
|
/vo - outputs the version info in RC format to stdout.
|
|
This can be used with /xi to import a version resource from another file.
|
|
Output of /vo (text from #ifdef RC_INVOKED to #endif) can be saved to a .rc file and compiled with rc.
|
|
/xi- test mode. does all operations but does not modify the file
|
|
/xlb - test mode. Re-parses the version resource after modification.
|
|
/rpdb - removes path to the .pdb file in debug information; leaves only file name.
|
|
/rf #id file - add or replace a raw binary resource from file (see below)
|
|
/noed - do not check for extra data appended to exe file
|
|
/vft2 num - specify driver subtype (VFT2_xxx value, see winver.h)
|
|
The application type (VFT_xxx) is retained from the existing version resource of the file,
|
|
or filled automatically, based on the filename extension (exe->app, sys->driver, anything else->dll)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Examples
|
|
========
|
|
|
|
verpatch d:\foo.dll 1.2.33.44
|
|
- replaces only the file version, all 4 numbers,
|
|
the Original file name and Internal name strings are set to "foo.dll".
|
|
File foo.dll should already have a version resource.
|
|
|
|
verpatch d:\foo.dll 33.44 /s comment "a comment"
|
|
- replaces only two last numbers of the file version and adds a comment.
|
|
File foo.dll should already have a version resource.
|
|
|
|
verpatch d:\foo.dll "33.44 special release" /sc "a comment"
|
|
- same as previous, with additional text in the version argument.
|
|
|
|
verpatch d:\foo.dll "1.2.33.44" /va /s description "foo.dll"
|
|
/s company "My Company" /s copyright "(c) 2009"
|
|
- adds or replaces version resource to foo.dll, with several string values.
|
|
( all options should be one line)
|
|
|
|
verpatch d:\foo.dll /vo /xi
|
|
- dumps the version resource in RC format, does not update the file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remarks
|
|
=======
|
|
|
|
Verpatch replaces the version number in existing file version info resource
|
|
with the values given on the command line.
|
|
|
|
In "patch" mode (no /va option), the PE file should have a version resource,
|
|
which is parsed, and then parameters specified on the command line are applied.
|
|
|
|
If the file has no version resource, or you want to discard the existing resource, use /va switch.
|
|
All nesessary strings can be specified with the /s option.
|
|
|
|
The command line can become very long, so you may want to use a batch file or script.
|
|
See the example batch files, how to create a version resource and
|
|
specify all parameters with /va.
|
|
|
|
Verpatch can be run on same PE file any number of times.
|
|
|
|
The Version argument can be specified as 1 to 4 dot separated decimal numbers,
|
|
or as quoted string containing additional text after the numbers.
|
|
If less than 4 numbers are given, they are considered as minor numbers.
|
|
The higher version parts are retained from existing version resource.
|
|
For example, if the existing version info has version number 1.2.3.4
|
|
and 55.66 specified on the command line, the result will be 1.2.55.66.
|
|
|
|
The quotes surrounding string arguments are needed for the command shell (cmd.exe),
|
|
for any argument that contains spaces.
|
|
|
|
The program ensures that the version numbers in the binary part
|
|
of the version structure and in the string part (as text) are same.
|
|
|
|
By default, Original File Name and Internal File Name are replaced to the actual filename.
|
|
Use /fn to preserve existing values in the version resource.
|
|
|
|
For option /s, specify language-neutral string names, not translations
|
|
( example: PrivateBuild, not "Private Build Description" ).
|
|
Null values can be specified as empty string ("").
|
|
See below for the list of known string keys names and their aliases.
|
|
The examples above use the aliases.
|
|
|
|
Strings for File version and Product version parameters are handled in a special way,
|
|
the /s switch can not be used to set them:
|
|
- File version can be specified only as the 2nd positional argument
|
|
- Product version can be specified using /pv switch
|
|
|
|
The /rf switch adds a resource from a file, or replaces a resource with same type and id.
|
|
The argument "#id" is a 32-bit hex number, prefixed with #.
|
|
Low 16 bits of this value are resource id; can not be 0.
|
|
Next 8 bits are resource type: one of RT_xxx symbols in winuser.h, or user defined.
|
|
If the type value is 0, RT_RCDATA (10) is assumed.
|
|
High 8 bits of the #id arg are reserved0.
|
|
The language code of resources added by this switch is 0 (Neutral).
|
|
Named resource types and ids are not implemented.
|
|
The file is added as opaque binary chunk; the resource size is rounded up to 4 bytes
|
|
and padded with zero bytes.
|
|
|
|
The program detects extra data appended to executable files, saves it and appends
|
|
again after modifying resources.
|
|
Such extra data is used by some installers, self-extracting archives and other applications.
|
|
However, the way we restore the data may be not compatible with these applications.
|
|
Please, verify that executable files that contain extra data work correctly after modification.
|
|
Command switch /noed disables checking for extra data.
|
|
|
|
|
|
====================================================================
|
|
Known string keys in VS_VERSION_INFO resource
|
|
====================================================================
|
|
|
|
The aliases are for use with the /s switch, and are not case sensitive.
|
|
|
|
-------------------+----+-------------------------------+------------
|
|
Invariant(LN) name |note| English translation | Alias
|
|
-------------------+----+-------------------------------+------------
|
|
Comments Comments comment
|
|
CompanyName E Company company
|
|
FileDescription E Description description, desc
|
|
FileVersion *1 File version
|
|
InternalName Internal Name title
|
|
*2 Language
|
|
LegalCopyright E Copyright copyright, (c)
|
|
LegalTrademarks E Legal Trademarks tm, (tm)
|
|
OriginalFilename Original File Name
|
|
ProductName Product Name product
|
|
ProductVersion *1 Product Version productver, prodver
|
|
PrivateBuild Private Build Description pb
|
|
SpecialBuild Special Build Description sb, build
|
|
OleSelfRegister A -
|
|
AssemblyVersion N
|
|
|
|
Notes
|
|
*1: FileVersion, ProductVersion values should begin with same 1.2.3.4 version number as in the binary header.
|
|
Can be any text. Windows Explorer displays the version numbers from the binary header.
|
|
|
|
*2: The "Language" value is the name of the language code specified in the header of the string block of VS_VERSION_INFO resource.
|
|
(or taken from VarFileInfo block?)
|
|
It is displayed by Windows Explorer, but is not contained in the version data.
|
|
|
|
E: Displayed by Windows Explorer in Vista+
|
|
A: Intended for some API (OleSelfRegister is used in COM object registration)
|
|
N: Added by some .NET compilers. This version number is not contained in the
|
|
binary part of the version struct and can differ from the file version.
|
|
To change it, just use switch /s AssemblyVersion [value]
|
|
|
|
====================================================================
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Known issues and TO DO's:
|
|
=========================
|
|
|
|
- Does not work on old PE files that have link version 5.x (before VC6?)
|
|
No known workaround; this seems to be limitation of Windows UpdateResource API.
|
|
|
|
- Does not work on signed files (TO DO)
|
|
|
|
- Currenly implemented only US English and Language Neutral Unicode version resources.
|
|
MUI resource configuration manifests not checked.
|
|
New version resource will be created as Language Neutral.
|
|
Version info in other languages will be erroneously rewritten as English or Language Neutral- TO DO
|
|
|
|
A second (language neutral) version resource may be added to a file
|
|
that already has a version resource in other language. Switch /va won't help.
|
|
TO DO: ensure that a file has only one version resource!
|
|
|
|
- When verpatch is invoked from command prompt, or batch file, the string
|
|
arguments can contain only ANSI characters, because cmd.exe batch files cannot be
|
|
in Uncode format. If you need to use arbitrary character sets,
|
|
use other shells that fully support Unicode (PowerShell, vbs, js).
|
|
|
|
- TO DO: In RC source output (/vo), special characters in strings are not quoted;
|
|
so /vo may produce invalid RC input
|
|
|
|
- The parser of binary version resources handles only the most common type of structure.
|
|
If the parser breaks because of unhandled structure format, try /va switch to
|
|
skip reading existing version resource and re-create it from scratch.
|
|
TODO: Consider using WINE or other open source implementations?
|
|
|
|
- option to add extra 0 after version strings : "string\0"
|
|
(requiested by one reader for some old VB code)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source code
|
|
============
|
|
The source is provided as a Visual C++ 2005 project, it can be compiled with VC 2008 Express.
|
|
It demonstrates use of the UpdateResource and imagehlp.dll API.
|
|
It does not demonstrate use of c++, good coding manners or anything else.
|
|
Dependencies on C++ libraries available only with the full Visual C 2008 have been removed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
LICENSE TERMS: CPOL (CodeProject Open License)
|
|
http://www.codeproject.com/info/licenses.aspx
|
|
|
|
~~
|