Undo doesn't work

[extf33]

Undo does not work after variable rename.

[xmhwws]

Sometimes openai is wrong and needs to undo its operation to make ida change back to the previous state.

[JusticeRage]

That would be nice to have, but I have no idea how to do it. Quoting from this StackOverflow answer by an Hex Rays employee:

Only interactive user actions can be undone via the UI or keyboard shortcut.

If the variable names are not satisfactory, the best I can offer for now is to press Ctrl + Alt + R to generate new names.

[jpenalbae]

Save an history of the renames and rename them back to their original names? Maybe keep track just for the last function...

[JusticeRage]

The thing is, storing the modifications isn't that much of an issue... What is complex is receiving the user intent of cancelling a modification. The plugin can't hijack the whole CTRL+Z hotkey as this would interfere with IDA as a whole, but having a separate one just for Gepetto (or a menu item like Gepetto > Cancel rename) would feel inconvenient.

I'm sure there is a way to do this properly with IDA, unfortunately my relationships with HexRays at the moment are not great so asking support is not an option.

[Acters]

I think the better approach is creating a snapshot. IDA knows about this limitation for a long time. I am surprised the Hex Rays employee didn't recommend to have the plugin prompting for saving current state into a snapshot. While automation is nice, there are moments you need to accept that user input and letting the user make a decision and hand over control to them is a necessary solution. I believe this should have been the answer on SO. https://python.docs.hex-rays.com/ida_loader

IDA has known about this limitation for a long time, even if the more recent do have limited undo capabilities.(13+ years!) Mostly because of tradeoff in performance and scalability with larger operations. https://hex-rays.com/blog/ida-pro-6-2-with-database-snapshots-support

[JusticeRage]

I suppose this could work, but it feels like developing a separate undo mechanism isn't the user experience people are expecting. For now, if the names picked by the model aren't good enough, I think the best thing to do is ask again.

[Acters]

I suppose this could work, but it feels like developing a separate undo mechanism isn't the user experience people are expecting. For now, if the names picked by the model aren't good enough, I think the best thing to do is ask again.

yes it is true. I do make the suggestion that instead of hand rolling an undo implementation, instead ask the user to create a snapshot( a backup ) of the current state before running the main loop. The IDA loader methods allow us to just display a message to the user and prompt the user to hit agree and save the snapshot or proceed without saving a snapshot. That way it is in the user's hands to make the decision to rollback, and try again, or to not make a snapshot if they don't care.

Otherwise, instead of asking to save a snapshot, there could be a notification that tells the user that it is recommended to create a snapshot before running. That way you can reduce anyone coming here wondering why the undo doesn't work with this. It is just how IDA works and the tradeoffs with how complex code bases can get. Though, I doubt many people who use IDA are of the level common consumers are and more likely to be patient and smarter with their usage. I was just offering a solution to this issue.

[mzpqnxow]

I suppose this could work, but it feels like developing a separate undo mechanism isn't the user experience people are expecting. For now, if the names picked by the model aren't good enough, I think the best thing to do is ask again.

For what it’s worth- in my use, I’ve found that I’ll ask, and then decide “adds value” or “doesn’t add value/is detrimental” and if it’s the latter, close the IDB without saving and open it again (!)

I haven’t yet tried your suggestion (trying again, to see if it does a better job) but my preference currently would be to have an undo/cancel button in the Gepetto context menu. And though it is clunky when compared with native Undo support (as you alluded) it’s better than closing and reloading the IDB

Maybe I need to try asking multiple times or lower my standards but my intuition is that certain functions just aren’t well suited for LLM analysis and won’t ever spit out something that appeases me

You mentioned it’s not necessarily difficult to track the renames and then restore them - but it is time and effort- so I’m not necessarily suggesting you should do it this way just to accommodate my use-case - I’m just asking that it be noted that it’s a UX improvement for some (obsessive, weird and stubborn) users like me :)

If a bunch of thumbs up arrive, maybe this will be helpful input, otherwise just one person’s opinion. Either way, great tool, so thank you for contributing your time to it

[Albeoris]

Only interactive user actions can be undone via the UI or keyboard shortcut.

This is pretty strange, because the documentation says otherwise:

UI actions or menu items registered by third party plugins will be undoable by default, there is no need to do anything.

Probably this is a bug?