So is the upx packer something that requires upx to unpack and run the executable? Because if so, and the unpacked thing is less than half a megabyte, do you really want to require people to download upx?
No, you don’t require UPX to unpack and run NXI. A decompression routine of UPX is embedded inside the executable and automatically unpacks the code to memory when you run the executable in your Windows desktop/explorer or Linux terminal. You won’t notice the decompression process at all.
This is taken from the UPX site:
Cool, sounds neat!
(see update info below)
Current stage of the Node-X development and beta-test process:
The interpreter has been revised with some latest fixes and last-minute features
and is nearing completion. Both executables for Win32 and Linux have been packed
with upx and then scanned with the newest version and database of Kaspersky
Anti-Virus 2009. No trojan virus has been detected in neither file.
As done before, I post the current sizes (subject to change!) of the packed and
unpacked executables below, just for curiosity. Please note that the final releases
will include a MD5 checksum for each executable (Win32/Linux), so you can verify
file integrity after you downloaded it.
NXI.EXE | Packed: 91 k (93.184) | Unpacked: 295 k (302.416)
NXI (ELF) | Packed: 174 k (187.856) | Unpacked: 613 k (628.716)