Installing BinDiff + BinExport on IDA Pro 9.1 (Linux, No Tears Edition)

I wanted a simple thing:

• Open ida64
• Export with BinExport
• Diff with BinDiff
• Not get yelled at by plugin loader logs

Instead, I got this:

/home/fury/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida.so: can't load file
BinExport 12 (@f2abe5a, Jul  4 2025), (c)2004-2011 zynamics GmbH, (c)2011-2025 Google LLC

Classic Linux RE setup moment.

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TL;DR fix

For IDA Pro 9.1 on Linux, use the 64-bit plugin only:

• keep binexport12_ida64.so
• remove binexport12_ida.so (32-bit)

If binexport12_ida.so is present, IDA may try to load it and print noise/failures even though the 64-bit one is fine.

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My environment

• OS: Kali Linux
• IDA: IDA Pro 9.1
• IDA path: /home/fury/ida-pro-9.1
• User plugin path: /home/fury/.idapro/plugins
• BinDiff package: bindiff_8_amd64.deb

If your IDA is elsewhere, just swap paths in commands below.

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1) Install BinDiff

cd ~/Downloads
sudo apt install -y ./bindiff_8_amd64.deb
bindiff --version

Expected:

BinDiff 8 ...

If bindiff --version works, package install is good.

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2) Install BinExport plugin for IDA

I used the Linux zip from BinExport releases and copied the IDA plugin to both plugin paths:

unzip -o ~/Downloads/BinExport-Linux.zip -d /tmp/binexport_linux
cp -f /tmp/binexport_linux/ida/binexport12_ida64.so /home/fury/ida-pro-9.1/plugins/
cp -f /tmp/binexport_linux/ida/binexport12_ida64.so /home/fury/.idapro/plugins/

You can check:

ls -la /home/fury/ida-pro-9.1/plugins | rg binexport12_ida
ls -la /home/fury/.idapro/plugins | rg binexport12_ida

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3) The important cleanup (this is where most pain comes from)

Remove the 32-bit plugin file:

rm -f /home/fury/ida-pro-9.1/plugins/binexport12_ida.so
rm -f /home/fury/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida.so

Then verify only ida64 remains:

ls -la /home/fury/ida-pro-9.1/plugins | rg binexport12_ida
ls -la /home/fury/.idapro/plugins | rg binexport12_ida

Expected output should show only binexport12_ida64.so.

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4) Launch IDA the right way

Use ida64, not ida.

Inside IDA:

1. Open any sample binary
2. Edit -> Plugins
3. Confirm BinExport 12 is present
4. Run BinExport once to confirm export dialog appears

If that works, you are done.

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What tripped me up

• I had both binexport12_ida.so and binexport12_ida64.so.
• IDA reported a load error for binexport12_ida.so, which looked scary, but the 64-bit plugin was actually fine.

The fix was not “rebuild everything from source”.
The fix was: clean plugin directory and keep only the correct architecture plugin.

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Quick sanity checklist

# 1) BinDiff installed?
bindiff --version

# 2) Right plugin exists?
ls -l /home/fury/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida64.so

# 3) Wrong plugin removed?
ls -l /home/fury/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida.so

For #3, “No such file or directory” is a feature, not a bug.

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Final note

If IDA plugin loading ever gets weird, 80% of the time it is one of these:

1. wrong architecture (ida.so vs ida64.so)
2. duplicate plugin copies in multiple plugin paths
3. old symlink leftovers from previous installs

Clean paths, keep one correct plugin, launch ida64, move on with life.