papaw vs Windows PE Packer

papaw is a Linux executable packer for programs that include statically linked third-party components, aimed at devices with limited disk space. It compresses executables and bundles them with a decompressor of about 15–40 KB. Supported algorithms are LZMA2, LZMA1, Zstandard and Deflate, and packed executables can replace themselves on disk when run. The project is free and unencumbered software under the MIT license, and can be self-hosted. It uses Meson and can be included as a Meson subproject; the README recommends `custom_target()` for running `papawify`. Prebuilt static binaries are available through GitHub releases, with example assets for aarch64, arm, armeb, i386, mips, mipsel and x86_64. To support portability, the project avoids machine-specific assembly and newer system calls such as `fexecve()`. Optional very basic anti-debugging protection is intended to discourage trivial reverse-engineering techniques. The payload is extracted to a temporary file; when run as root, papaw mounts a tmpfs filesystem and lazily unmounts it before extraction.

Windows PE Packer is a free, MIT-licensed command-line project that packs Windows PE files to obstruct some forms of reverse engineering. It changes the import table, encrypts sections, clears section names, and adds a shell-entry. When a packed program runs, that entry decrypts the sections, initializes the original import table, and performs relocation. The project says this can make disassembly, constant-string searches, and import-table analysis more difficult. Its command takes an input filename and an output filename: PE-Packer . It currently handles only 32-bit.exe programs and must be configured for 32-bit Windows. Building it requires MASM32, MinGW-w64 with i686 architecture, and CMake. Written in C and Intel x86 Assembly, it is described by its maker as a beginner demonstration for learning about the Windows PE format and assembly; compatibility problems and bugs make it unsuitable for practical use. The repository lists no releases. The MIT license permits copying, modification, distribution, and other uses subject to its conditions, and provides the software without warranty. The plan is free.