ORPHANWARE The vendor is gone. The source is lost. The software still runs your business.
Orphanware Recovery rebuilds readable, compilable source code from compiled legacy programs, then tests the rebuild against your original until the behavior matches. You get source you can maintain again, and the test report to prove it.
Intake is by email. There is no upload form on this site, on purpose.
- Differential-tested against the original
- Intake by email only
- Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
- Est. 2026
Measured, not promised
Recovery work is easy to claim and hard to prove, so we prove it the same way on every engagement: differential testing against the original binary. These numbers come from completed test engagements against real compiled targets.
The test set included the sbase sort, tar, and find utilities, bzip2 1.0.8, a C++ text statistics tool, and a hostile build compiled with aggressive optimization, link time optimization, and stripped symbols. Every rebuild compiled clean and matched its original across thousands of differential fuzz cases with zero divergence.
Delphi and Object Pascal: feasibility passed on October 19, 2026. A Free Pascal compiled target was recovered with class and property names intact from runtime type information, verified across 4,654 fuzz cases. Stated plainly: that target was built with Free Pascal, not Embarcadero Delphi, and VCL forms applications have not been tested yet.
What we do
Some programs outlive the companies that wrote them. The vendor folds, the developer retires, the source code sits on a drive that died years ago. The program itself still runs, and the business still depends on it, but nothing about it can be fixed, changed, or moved.
Orphanware Recovery works backward from the compiled program you still have. We decompile it, reconstruct readable source, rebuild it, and verify the rebuild against the original, until you hold source code that a developer can read, compile, and change.
Recovered source code
Readable source with meaningful function and variable names, structured the way a developer would write it. Not raw decompiler output.
A recompiled binary
A working program built from the recovered source, with compile verification, ready to run where the original runs.
A behavior report
What the program does, its inputs, options, and file formats, and the test evidence showing where the rebuild matches the original.
Who this is for
If a program your operation depends on has no source and no vendor, it is a candidate. These are the situations we are built for.
FoxPro and Clipper business applications
The custom xBase application your office has run for years: invoicing, inventory, records. The vendor is retired or gone and nobody has the source. Recovery turns it back into something that can be fixed, extended, or migrated on your schedule instead of its failure schedule.
CNC and machining software
Control, conversion, and utility programs tied to specific machines. When one of them fails, the machine sits idle and the replacement quote covers far more than software. Recovered source means the program can be maintained instead of the machine being replaced around it.
Point of sale systems
Register and back office software from vendors that shut down or dropped the product, including the systems left behind when POS platforms are discontinued. If the software still runs but cannot change, the source is the way out.
Not sure your program qualifies? That is exactly what the $45 Recon Report answers, before any larger commitment.
How it works
Four stages, the same pipeline used on the proof targets above.
Reconnaissance
We inventory the binary: what it does, its command line interface and flags, the file formats it reads and writes, and whether full recovery is realistic. You get an honest verdict first.
Decompilation
The binary is decompiled with Ghidra, producing a first draft of its logic: functions, data structures, and control flow.
Reconstruction
The draft is rebuilt into clean, readable source with meaningful names and normal structure, then compiled into a working binary.
Differential verification
The rebuilt binary and your original run side by side across thousands of generated test cases, and outputs are compared exactly. Any divergence is found, fixed, and retested. The final report shows what was proven and what was not.
Pricing
Fixed price tiers, paid through Stripe checkout. New engagements start with the Recon Report. Standard and Premium are for engagements whose scope a recon has already agreed, and larger or multi-program work is quoted from the recon.
- Full binary reconnaissance: what the program does, its interface and flags, the file formats it handles
- Honest feasibility verdict: recoverable or not, and what a full recovery would take
- The low risk first step before committing to a full recovery
- Delivery in about 3 days
The front door for new engagements.
Start with the Recon Report- Everything in Basic
- Readable recovered source code
- Recompiled working binary, with compile verification
- Delivery in about 5 days
For scope already agreed in a Recon Report.
Buy Source Recovery- Everything in Standard
- Full differential test report: the rebuilt binary compared against your original across thousands of generated cases, outputs matched byte for byte
- Documented edge cases and known limitations: exactly what was proven and what was not
- Delivery in about 7 days
For scope already agreed in a Recon Report.
Buy Verified RecoveryIf a recovery hits something that cannot be recovered, we document exactly where and why instead of faking it. The Recon Report exists so you learn that early, for $45.
Start a recovery
The first step is a conversation about what the program is and what you need. Send an email and include what you can from this list.
- What the program is, and what it does for your business
- Where it came from, if you know: vendor, approximate year, language or platform
- What you need: maintenance, a fix, a migration, or documentation
- Anything you have: old documentation, sample inputs, or expected outputs (optional, and they help)
Please do not attach the binary to your first email. After an initial reply, we will arrange the transfer.
Every message is read by the operator, not a ticket system.
Straight answers
What if my binary cannot be recovered?
You will know before paying for the full job. The Recon Report gives you an honest verdict first, and if a larger recovery hits something unrecoverable, we document exactly where and why.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Your binary and the recovered source are handled as your property, and we are happy to sign.
Is this legal?
We only work on binaries you own or have the right to reverse engineer. We do not work on malware, spyware, cracks or keygens, or DRM circumvention.
Who runs this
Orphanware Recovery is operated by Josiah Wilson in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He directs every engagement and signs off on every result. The decompilation, reconstruction, and testing pipeline is carried out by AI agents under his direction.
That is how a one person operation does verification work at these prices: the testing runs thousands of cases without getting tired, and a named human is accountable for what ships.