Baksmali

Baksmali is a command-line tool used for disassembling and assembling Dalvik Executable (DEX) files, which are the bytecode format used by the Android operating system. It serves as a counterpart to the smali assembler/disassembler. Baksmali takes a DEX file as input and produces a human-readable representation of the Dalvik bytecode, often referred to as Smali code. This Smali code can then be manually edited to modify the application's behavior or analyze its functionality.

Conversely, Baksmali can also be used to reassemble modified Smali code back into a DEX file. This process is crucial for tasks such as reverse engineering, patching Android applications, and creating custom ROMs. The tool is widely used by Android developers, security researchers, and hobbyists who need to understand or modify the internal workings of Android applications. Baksmali is part of a larger ecosystem of tools designed for Android application analysis and manipulation. Its development and maintenance are often tied to the evolution of the Android platform and its bytecode format.