ProGuard

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ProGuard

ProGuard.png
ProGuard 3.6
Basic data

Maintainer Eric PF Lafortune (from Belgium )
Current  version 7.0.0
( June 9, 2020 )
operating system platform independent
programming language Java
category Obfuscator
License GPL 2+ with optional additions
German speaking No
proguard.sourceforge.net

ProGuard is free software that compresses ( shrinker ), optimizes ( optimizer ) compiled Java files (bytecode ) and makes decompilation more difficult ( obfuscator ). Furthermore, the software recognizes and removes unused categories, fields and attributes and thus contributes to the JAR files becoming smaller and more stable.

Range of functions

ProGuard supports all class files from Java version 1.1 to 9. In addition to normal Java applications ( J2SE ), J2ME applications can also be optimized.

The program has a large number of options and extensive English-language documentation. To make it easier to optimize Java applications, it is supplied with a graphical assistant . But it can also be used via the command line , as an Ant task or via configuration files.

Android

ProGuard is recommended by Google for the development of Android applications and is also integrated into the build system for Android.

Licensing

ProGuard was released under the terms of the GPL license (version 2 or later), with the GPL linking exception being added for some other programming tools (including Ant and Maven ) . Although the program itself is free software, it can also be used to optimize proprietary applications.

Alternatives

There are a number of other, partly commercial programs that, like ProGuard Java, compress and optimize bytecode and make it difficult to decompile. Many of them are also listed on the ProGuard homepage. DashO, JavaGuard, yGuard and Zelix Klassmaster are worth mentioning.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release 7.0.0 . June 9, 2020 (accessed July 14, 2020).
  2. ProGuard - Download - heise online. In: heise.de. Retrieved October 26, 2015 .
  3. Page on ProGuard in the Android developer documentation
  4. ProGuard alternatives according to ProGuard
  5. DashO homepage
  6. JavaGuard homepage
  7. yGuard Homepage
  8. Zelix Klassmaster Homepage