Racelogic .ref to .dbc Extractor

A command-line tool that converts Racelogic .ref files into standard .dbc (CAN Database) files.

What It Does

This tool reads a binary .ref file, finds all the zlib-compressed CAN signal definitions inside it, and writes them out to a properly formatted .dbc file.

Installation

You can download a pre-built program or build it yourself.

From GitHub Releases (Recommended)

1. Go to the Releases page.
2. Download the executable for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).
3. Continue to Usage

From Source (For Developers)

If you have Go installed, you can build it from source.

# 1. Make sure you have Go installed (https://go.dev/dl/)
# 2. Clone the repo and navigate into it
git clone [https://github.com/EastArctica/racelogic-ref-to-dbc.git](https://github.com/EastArctica/racelogic-ref-to-dbc.git)
cd racelogic-ref-to-dbc

# 3. Build the executable
go build

Usage

The tool is designed to be used from the command line, which also makes it easy to script.

Drag and Drop

The simplest way to use it is to drag your .ref file onto the racelogic-ref-to-dbc executable. It will create the .dbc file in the same directory.

Command Line / Scripting

You can run the tool from your terminal. This is useful for automating conversions.

# Basic use:
# The input file is the first argument.
./racelogic-ref-to-dbc /path/to/your/file.ref

# For more control, use flags for input and output files:
# -i: specify the input file
# -o: specify the output file
./racelogic-ref-to-dbc -i /path/to/file.ref -o /path/to/custom_output.dbc

Error Messages

If something goes wrong (e.g., the file is corrupt, a line is malformed), the program will print an error or warning message to the console. If you used the drag-and-drop method, the window will stay open so you can read the message. Just press Enter to close it.

If you encounter an error, please create an issue on the GitHub repository. If possible, please attach the .ref file that caused the problem, as this is extremely helpful for debugging.