Installation

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Installation
  3. Scripts and Tools
  4. Console (GUI) and Modules
  5. Developer Docs

Quick Start

The quickest way to get up and running with an almost full installation of the framework is as follows:
  1. Install Python 2.4, Windows Python-2.4.3.msi
  2. Launch __install_requirements.py and follow the interactive prompts to download / install requirements.
  3. Launch __setup_mysql.py (requires command line arguments) to setup the MySQL database for pstalker.
  4. Launch console\PAIMEIconsole.py to pull up the GUI.
  5. Install IDA Python.
  6. Launch IDA, load a target executable and run the pida_dump.py IDA Python script to generate a PIDA file.
  7. Load the PIDA file in the GUI and you're up and running.

Detailed Installation Guide

I won't lie to you, there are a number of pre-requisites for a complete install of the PaiMei framework. Luckily, none of them are difficult to install and many of them you probably already have. Not every portion of the framework relies on all of the pre-reqs. The following table should help you get started on deciding what you will need:

Requirement Available From PyDbg PIDA GUI Needed For
Python 2.4 http://www.python.org Y Y Y Everything ;-) You definetely need to have this.
IDA Pro http://www.datarescue.com/idabase/   Y   Static analysis such as for PIDA generation. You probably already have this.
IDA Python http://www.d-dome.net/idapython   Y   PIDA generation, process stalking. You should install this if you haven't already.
WxPython http://www.wxpython.org     Y Wx is required for PAIMEIconsole, the GUI component. If you don't plan on using the GUI, don't worry about this.
MySQL / MySQLdb http://www.mysql.org
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python		     Y The PAIMEIpstalker code coverage tool requires a MySQL database and the Python bindings. The code coverage utility can also store/load from disk, so you only need this module if you plan on using the GUI.
Python ctypes http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/ Y   Y Required for PyDbg and portions of the console, such as the code coverage tool.
uDraw(Graph) http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/uDrawGraph/en/home.html       Required only if you wish to generate static / interactive graphs with uDraw. I recommend you install this.
GraphViz / PyDot http://www.graphviz.org
http://dkbza.org/pydot.html		       Required only if you wish to generate static graphs in Dot. You probably don't need this module.
Oreas GDE http://www.oreas.com/gde_en.php       Required for GML rendering. Of the 3 currently supported graph rendering routines, this is the prettiest.


You can run the __install_requirements.py Python script to help determine which of the above components you already have installed and to automatically download and install missing components. Once you have all the pre-requisites up and running, to install the PyDbg, pGRAPH, PIDA and utility libraries to your system wide Python directory, simply run the included Microsoft Windows installer. You can then individually launch the console or various scripts from any path on the system. Alternatively, you can keep the entire package: console, scripts, libraries and all together. For a full installation, the final step is to setup the paimei MySQL database. The database name is not optional. You can either manually setup the database yourself using the schema described in "docs\SQL Structure.txt". Alternatively, you can use the __setup_mysql.py helper script to do the work for you.

With everything installed and operational you can launch the GUI console through console\PAIMEIconsole.pyw or start tinkering with the various included scripts such as debuggee_procedure_call.py. For a quick example of an advanced creation on top of the PaiMei framework see the PAIMEIpstalker Flash demo.