First and foremost, IDA is not free software. The folks at Hex-Rays make their living in part through the sales of IDA. A limited-functionality, freeware[21] version of IDA is available for people who wish to familiarize themselves with its basic capabilities, but it doesn’t keep pace with the most recent versions. The freeware version, discussed more extensively in Appendix A, is a stripped-down edition of IDA 5.0 (the current version being 6.1). Along with the freeware version, Hex-Rays also distributes a restricted-functionality demonstration copy[22] of the current version. If the rave reviews that are found anywhere reverse engineering is discussed are not sufficient to convince you to purchase a copy, then spending some time with either the freeware or demo version will surely help you realize that IDA, and the customer support that comes along with it, is well worth owning.
As of version 6.0, IDA is available in GUI and console versions for Windows, Linux, and OS X. IDA makes use of the Qt cross-platform GUI libraries to provide a consistent user interface on all three platforms. From a functionality standpoint, IDA Pro is offered in two versions: standard and advanced. The two versions differ primarily in the number of processor architectures for which they support disassembly. A quick look at the list of supported processors[23] shows that the standard version (approximately USD540 as of this writing) supports more than 30 processor families, while the advanced version (at almost twice the price) supports more than 50. Additional architectures supported in the advanced version include x64, AMD64, MIPS, PPC, and SPARC, among others.
Two licensing options are available when you purchase IDA. From the Hex-Rays website:[24] “Named licenses are linked to a specific end-user and may be used on as many computers as that particular end-user uses,” while “Computer licenses are linked to a specific computer and may be used by different end-users on that computer provided only one user is active at any time.” Note that while a single named license entitles you to install the software on as many computers as you like, you are the only person who may run those copies of IDA, and, for a single license, IDA may be running on only one of those computers at any given time.
Note
Unlike many other software licenses for proprietary software, IDA’s license specifically grants users the right to reverse engineer IDA.
Prior to version 6.0, IDA purchases included a Windows GUI version along with console versions for Windows, Linux, and OS X. Beginning with version 6.0, purchasers must specify exactly which operating system they wish to run their copy of IDA on. Each copy of IDA 6.x includes console and Qt-based GUI versions for the specified operating system only. Additional licenses for alternate operating systems are available for a reduced price. You can purchase IDA through authorized distributors listed on the IDA sales web page or directly from Hex-Rays by fax or email. Purchased copies can be delivered via CD or downloaded, and they entitle the buyer to a year of support and upgrades. In addition to the IDA installer, the CD distribution contains a variety of extras such as the IDA software development kit (SDK) and other utilities. Users who opt to download their purchased copy of IDA typically receive only the installer bundle and are required to download other components separately.
Hex-Rays has been known to restrict sales to specific countries based on its experiences with piracy in those countries. It also maintains a blacklist of users who have violated the terms of licensing for IDA and may refuse to do business with such users and/or their employers.
The IDA Help menu contains an option to check for an available upgrade. Additionally, IDA will automatically issue warnings that your support period is about to expire based on the expiration date contained in your key file. The upgrade process typically involves submitting your ida.key file to Hex-Rays, which will then validate your key and provide you with details on how to obtain your upgraded version. Should you find that your version of IDA is too old to be eligible for an upgrade, be sure to take advantage of Hex-Rays’ reduced upgrade pricing for holders of expired keys.
Warning
Failure to maintain close control over your key file could result in an unauthorized user requesting your allotted upgrade, preventing you from upgrading your copy of IDA.
As a final note on upgrading any version of IDA, we highly recommend backing up your existing IDA installation or installing your upgrade to a completely different directory in order to avoid losing any configuration files that you may have modified. You will need to edit the corresponding files in your upgrade version to re-enable any changes that you have previously made. Similarly you will need to move, recompile, or otherwise obtain new versions of any custom IDA plug-ins that you may have been using (more about plug-ins and the plug-in installation process in Chapter 17).