BLDD - Backward LDD

BLDD (Backward LDD) is a command-line utility that finds executable files depending on specified shared libraries. Unlike the traditional ldd command which shows dependencies of a single binary, BLDD scans directories to discover which executables link against given libraries.

Features

• Scan directories for executables using specific shared libraries
• Support for multiple architectures: x86, x86_64, ARM, AArch64
• Cross-platform support for ELF (Linux) and Mach-O (macOS) binaries
• Filter by library name (partial matching)
• Filter by architecture and binary format
• Configurable output formats
• Verbose and recursive scanning options
• Configuration file support
• Binary symlinks handling

Installation

From Releases

From Release

Download the latest prebuilt binary from the releases page:

Linux (x86_64)

# Download and extract
curl -L https://github.com/peplxx/bldd/releases/download/v0.2.2/bldd-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz

# Make it executable
chmod +x bldd

# Move to PATH (optional)
sudo mv bldd /usr/local/bin/

Macos (Intel)

# Download and extract
curl -L https://github.com/peplxx/bldd/releases/download/v0.2.2/bldd-macos-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz

# Make it executable
chmod +x bldd

# Move to PATH (optional)
sudo mv bldd /usr/local/bin/

Macos (Apple Silicon)

# Download and extract
curl -L https://github.com/peplxx/bldd/releases/download/v0.2.2/bldd-macos-aarch64.tar.gz | tar xz

# Make it executable
chmod +x bldd

# Move to PATH (optional)
sudo mv bldd /usr/local/bin/

From Sources

Requirements

• C++17 compiler (GCC 7+, Clang 5+)
• CMake 3.16+
• Git

Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/peplxx/bldd.git
cd bldd

# Configure and build
cmake -B build
cmake --build build

ln -s $(pwd)/build/bin/bldd ~/.local/bin/bldd

Quick Example

Find all executables in /usr/bin that depend on OpenSSL libraries:

bldd -d /usr/bin -l libssl -l libcrypto

Output:

libcrypto.46.dylib [x86_64] (31 execs):
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ssh
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/scp
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/sftp
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ssh-keygen
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ssh-add
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ssh-agent
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ssh-keyscan
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/openssl
    libcrypto.46.dylib -> /usr/bin/ocspcheck
    ... (22 more executables)

libssl.48.dylib [x86_64] (4 execs):
    libssl.48.dylib -> /usr/bin/openssl
    libssl.48.dylib -> /usr/bin/ocspcheck
    libssl.48.dylib -> /usr/bin/newaliases
    libssl.48.dylib -> /usr/bin/mailq

----------------------------------------
libs total: 2
execs total: 31

Usage

bldd [OPTIONS]

Basic Examples

# Find all executables using libc in /usr/bin
bldd -d /usr/bin -l libc

# Find executables using libssl or libcrypto, output to file
bldd -d /usr/bin -l libssl -l libcrypto -o report.txt

# Scan multiple directories for x86_64 binaries only
bldd -d /usr/bin -d /usr/local/bin --arch x86_64

# Scan with verbose output
bldd -d /usr/bin -v

# Scan without recursion
bldd -d /opt --no-recursive

# Scan without symlinks
bldd -d /usr/bin --no-symlinks

Options

Option	Description
-d, --directory	Directory to scan for executables (multiple allowed)
-l, --library	Library filter to search for (multiple allowed, partial match, all allowed)
-a, --arch	Filter by architecture: x86, x86_64, armv7, aarch64
-o, --output	Output file for the report (default: stdout)
--bformat	Filter by binary format: elf, macho, all
-c, --config	Path to configuration file
-v, --verbose	Enable verbose output
--no-recursive	Do not scan directories recursively
--no-symlinks	Do not scan symlinks in directories
--examples	Show usage examples

Configuration File

BLDD supports configuration files for persistent settings.

By default, BLDD looks for a configuration file at ~/.config/bldd/bldd.conf.

You can override this with the --config flag.

Testing

BLDD includes unit and end-to-end tests:

Running tests

# Build with tests
cmake -B -DBUILD_TESTING=ON build
cmake --build build

# Run unit tests
./build/bin/tests

# Run end-to-end tests
cmake -B -DBUILD_TESTING=ON -DBUILD_E2E=ON build
cmake --build build

./build/bin/tests

# Run cross-platform end-to-end script
./scripts/run-e2e.sh

Playground

A Docker-based playground environment is available for testing:

Using the playground

# Start the playground
docker-compose -f playground/docker-compose.yaml up -d
docker-compose -f playground/docker-compose.yaml exec playground bash

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Bug Reports

Report bugs at: https://github.com/peplxx/bldd/issues