.aba file compressed using ZLIB - need to extract/uncompress

[iAurora]

AIM 7 beta 2 uses a new .aba format to compress directories into one single .aba file. This makes editing files that used to be in those directories impossible without access to the aba file contents. I have been able to confirm that the new aba format (something like aim binary achieve) is made using ZLIB compression.

Can some of the amazing and wonderful programmers from Neowin crack the file, and get access to it's contents? Any and all help is appreciated. I uploaded the file that I need access to.

Thanks!!!

en_us.zip

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

You sure it's Zlib?

It has no standerd header, instead it says Copyright AOL. Might be a custom format.

Are there any DLLs in AIM's directory that look related to this? It would be a lot easier to work with these if I could use AIM's extraction methods.

[iAurora]

You sure it's Zlib?

It has no standerd header, instead it says Copyright AOL. Might be a custom format.

Are there any DLLs in AIM's directory that look related to this? It would be a lot easier to work with these if I could use AIM's extraction methods.

I was told it's Zlib from someone close to the matter at AOL, but I cannot confirm it for sure. I'll upload the entire AIM directory so that you can have access to any DLLs you may need.

http://www.filedropper.com/aim

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

It doesn't seem to have the zlib dll so if it is zlib it must be internally compiled (static linked). UniExtract didn't seem to know what to do with it. I'll write a quick app with zlib and see if it will extract it.

Update: If it is using Zlib, its using internally in the file somewhere. Or it may be encrypted. The file itself doesn't follow zip or zlib structure. (no PK and the layout isn't specifying file names)

Update2: Ah... the quantum rule of Googling. I Google AOL ABA format and the only related result is this thread.

Update3: I looked through the functions exported by AIM's dlls and I don't seem to see anything for extracting them. There are some readstream commands and etc but I think those are referring to networking. Seems anything of use is statically linked :/

Still, I'll keep working on it.

Edited July 9, 2009 by omnicoder

[iAurora]

It doesn't seem to have the zlib dll so if it is zlib it must be internally compiled (static linked). UniExtract didn't seem to know what to do with it. I'll write a quick app with zlib and see if it will extract it.

Update: If it is using Zlib, its using internally in the file somewhere. Or it may be encrypted. The file itself doesn't follow zip or zlib structure. (no PK and the layout isn't specifying file names)

Update2: Ah... the quantum rule of Googling. I Google AOL ABA format and the only related result is this thread.

This is a new file format that was just released days ago with the beta 2 of AIM 7. Before, they just had all the files in folders, instead of this one file with all the files inside it.

So basically, is there any way to extract it at all? Even if it's not ZLIB?

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

Yes but it may take some time.

Can you hit Winkey+R and type %temp% into the box, then go back 2 directories to the Temp folder under your username and check for a folder called AIM in either Local, LocalLow or Roaming? It may extract them their while it uses them.

[iAurora]

Take all the time you need, I really appreciate the help!

I checked, and didn't see any extracted files... just logs and mpegs. =[

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

Definitely seems encrypted. I'll probably need to make an app that uses AIM to extract it.

I'm gonna take a break and play a quick game in Halo (about 5 mins) and then come work on this some more. Back

Edited July 9, 2009 by omnicoder

[iAurora]

Awesome, that would pwn!

[code.kliu.org]

Have you tried running it in a debugger to see what it does after it loads the file?

[iAurora]

Nope..... How would I go about doing that?

[code.kliu.org]

I was suggesting that as something that omnicoder could try doing. :)

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

Sorry hadn't been checking the thread. Anyway, good idea. I'll run it through Olly once I'm done with PE Explorer.

[iAurora]

Any success so far?

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

Still working on it, I'll post once I've made progress, no need to ask.

[iAurora]

Okay, sounds fair.

[Sora3087]

Also looking for info on this, I muddled around in that file a bit. It seems to have a large name table and i tried looking for locations on in the beginning of the file.

As far as I know

0x48 u32 is the start location of the name table and

0x80 u32 is the start of the file data

Excuse the trolling if I happen to be as I don't know who knows what right now, just trying to help.

Update: it seems that all the theme texture files are stored in en-us.aba anyway

Edited July 10, 2009 by Sora3087

[iAurora]

Yep, it's all the theme files and all the localization files. Just need to get them extracted... Thanks for any help, Sora.

[Sora3087]

i am also about 90% positive 0x44 u32 is the number of files in the archive (in both files)

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

I think I can almost extract something out of it, but first I have a question. Will you need to replace files in it? Or just extract them? I can probably use AIM to extract them but if I need to modify them it would mean it had to be done without AIM's help.

[iAurora]

At least for now, I will not need to remake the aba file... just extract it. In the future, I might need to recompile it, but we can go there once it's needed.

You're the best!

[iAurora]

So did you get it? It sounded like you had it, but I'm not sure.

[fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj]

Sorry, I've been busy, I haven't forgotten about you.

[Sora3087]

i think we need add or replace capabilities to be able to add custom textures to the themes.

you can add custom themes to the list on the drop down but custom themes with textures don't load correctly (i've tried giving explicit dir address and it will turn the window green and the transparency will look weird)

[iAurora]

Anything?

[Sora3087]

hi hate to bump an old post but this is mostly solved now

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1449475...ract-it/1450945

enjoy