NAME

       shc - Generic shell script compiler

SYNOPSIS

       shc [ -e date ] [ -m addr ] [ -i iopt ] [ -x cmnd ] [ -l lopt ] [ -o outfile ] [ -ABCDhUHvSr ] -f script

DESCRIPTION

       shc creates a stripped binary executable version of the script specified with -f on the command line.

       The  binary  version  will  get  a  .x  extension  appended by default if outfile is not defined with [-o
       outfile] option and will usually be a bit larger in size than  the  original  ascii  code.   Generated  C
       source code is saved in a file with the extension .x.c or in a file specified with appropriate option.

       If  you  supply  an  expiration date with the -e option, the compiled binary will refuse to run after the
       date specified.  The message Please contact your provider will be displayed instead.  This message can be
       changed with the -m option.

       You can compile any kind of shell script, but you need to supply valid -i, -x and -l options.

       The compiled binary will still be dependent on the shell specified in the first line of  the  shell  code
       (i.e.  #!/bin/sh), thus shc does not create completely independent binaries.

       shc  itself  is  not a compiler such as cc, it rather encodes and encrypts a shell script and generates C
       source code with the added expiration capability.  It then uses the system compiler to compile a stripped
       binary which behaves exactly like the original script.  Upon execution, the compiled binary will  decrypt
       and execute the code with the shell -c option.  Unfortunately, it will not give you any speed improvement
       as a real C program would.

       shc's  main  purpose is to protect your shell scripts from modification or inspection.  You can use it if
       you wish to distribute your scripts but don't want them to be easily readable by other people.

OPTIONS

       -e date : Expiration date in dd/mm/yyyy format [none]

       -m message : message to display upon expiration ["Please contact your provider"]

       -f script_name : File path of the script to compile

       -i inline_option : Inline option for the shell interpreter i.e: -e

       -x command : eXec command, as a printf format i.e: exec(\\'%s\\',@ARGV);

       -l last_option : Last shell option i.e: --

       -o outfile : output to the file specified by outfile

       -r : Relax security.  Make a redistributable binary which executes on different systems running the  same
       operating system.  You can release your binary with this option for others to use

       -v : Verbose compilation

       -S : Switch ON setuid for root callable programs [OFF]

       -D : Switch on debug exec calls

       -U : Make binary to be untraceable (using strace, ptrace, truss, etc.)

       -H  : Hardening.  Extra security flag without root access requirement that protects against dumping, code
       injection, cat /proc/pid/cmdline, ptrace, etc..  This feature is experimental and may  not  work  on  all
       systems.  it require bourne shell (sh) scripts any positional parameters.

       -C : Display license and exit

       -A : Display abstract and exit

       -B : Compile for BusyBox

       -h : Display help and exit

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       CC : C compiler command [cc]

       CFLAGS : C compiler flags [none]

       LDFLAGS : Linker flags [none]

EXAMPLES

       Compile a script which can be run on other systems with the trace option enabled (without -U flag):

              shc -f myscript -o mybinary

       Compile an untraceable binary:

              shc -Uf myscript -o mybinary

       Compile an untraceable binary that doesn't require root access (experimental):

              shc -Hf myscript -o mybinary

LIMITATIONS

       The  maximum  size  of the script that could be executed once compiled is limited by the operating system
       configuration parameter _SC_ARG_MAX (see sysconf(2))

AUTHORS

       Francisco Rosales <frosal@fi.upm.es>

       intika <intika@librefox.org>

       Md Jahidul Hamid <jahidulhamid@yahoo.com>

REPORT BUGS TO

       <https://github.com/neurobin/shc/issues>

shc user manual                                 January 14, 2019                                          shc(1)