Developing on Windows

Git

To download the latest version of Plaso you’ll need to install the git tools.

Checkout the Plaso source from the git repo:

git clone https://github.com/log2timeline/plaso.git

If you intend to submit code make sure to configure git to use convert to the Unix-style end-of-line characters (linefeed) on submission and not have the Windows-style end-of-line characters (carriage return + linefeed).

We recommend to configure your editor of choice to use linefeed only and turn off git’s autocrlf:

git config --global core.autocrlf false

Dependencies

Install the dependencies, using the prepackaged dependencies.

Check if you have all the dependencies installed and have the right minimum version:

C:\Python3\python.exe utils\check_dependencies.py

Note that some dependencies are actively under development and can be frequently updated, therefore we recommend checking the status of the dependencies regularly.

Running the development code

To run the development code directly from source make sure Python can find the Plaso source files by setting PYTHONPATH correspondingly.

set PYTHONPATH=C:\plaso-build\plaso

To run a tool, for example pinfo:

C:\Python3\python.exe C:\plaso-build\plaso\plaso\frontend\pinfo.py timeline.plaso

Development tools

If you intend to do development on Plaso you’ll also need to install some development tools:

  • PyLint

  • Python Mock

PyLint

At the moment Plaso development requires PyLint 2.6.x.

Python Mock

Download the latest source package from: https://pypi.org/project/mock

To build the MSI file run the following commands from the build root directory:

tar xvf mock-1.0.1.tar.gz
cd mock-1.0.1\
C:\Python3\python.exe setup.py bdist_msi
cd ..

This will create a MSI in the dist sub directory e.g.:

dist\mock-1.0.1.win32.msi

Install the MSI.