Just found this proprietary program: YourKit Java Profiler. One of its many touted features is automated de-obfuscation. Based on the site copy, I get the impression that it uses log files generated by various code obfuscators to do a search and replace. Darn. Not quite what I was hoping for.

If they value their intellectual property, responsible Java-developing software companies use some kind of code obfuscator as part of their build process. This way, there is very little chance that a Java class file will be unleashed that retains the original identifiers. One such Java source code obfuscator is called Retroguard. But can the tool be used for its opposite purpose?

As an aside, I need to point out some irony: I once took a Java course where the instructor claimed that Java is desirable to proprietary software outfits because it can be compiled, and IP implicitly guarded, whereas programs written in interpreted languages, notably Perl, need their source code redistributed. In fact, Java code is very trivial to decompile, whereas languages like Perl can be compiled for redistribution.

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