Step by step to setup a bsim server using PostgreSQL and Docker for Ghidra 11.4

How to create a bsim database using PostreSQL + Docker.md

Since Ghidra 11.4, we have entrypoints to use Ghidra from official docker scripts.

But it's lacking a beginning-friendly tutorial to setup a bsim server using PostreSQL. Here's how to make it step by step:

0. Go to the Ghidra root folder

1. Build the docker images:

./docker/build-docker-image.sh

2. Create an empty folder to store the postgres database files:

mkdir db

2. Start the container using bsim-server mode:

docker run \
    --env MODE=bsim-server \
    --rm \
    -it \
    --volume ./db:/ghidra/bsim_datadir \
    -p 5432:5432 \
    ghidra/ghidra:_ \
    /ghidra/bsim_datadir

3. In a new terminal tab, start a bash session on the above container:

docker exec -it $(docker ps -q --filter "ancestor=ghidra/ghidra:_" | head -n 1) bash

4. Create a new database on postgres

cd support
./bsim createdatabase postgresql://ghidra@localhost:5432/mydb medium_32

5. On Ghidra UI, go to BSim -> Manage Servers. If you can't see this menu, make sure you've enabled BSim.

6. Click on + and fill out the form with the following values:

• DB Name: mydb
• User: ghidra
• Host: localhost

Done! 🎉