BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS env var prevents BinaryView loading (dev branch)

[melomac]

I have been using the BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS environment variable to improve scripts loading time, making them almost as fast as in a containerized environment.

This helped me noticing a regression (stable channel isn't impacted) in current Binary Ninja dev build: when BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS environment variable is enabled, Binary Ninja won't be able to load ELF or Mach-O views.

I am able to reproduce the problem in a Linux container or a virtual environment on macOS:

$ cat /tmp/test.py
#!/usr/bin/env -S BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS=1 python3

from binaryninja import *
bv = load("/bin/ls")
print(f"BinaryView type: {bv.view_type}")
print(f"BinaryView version: {core_version()}")

$ /tmp/test.py
[0:0 Default error] Mapped view could not be created! Failed to get platform x86 by name
[0:0 Default error] SettingsCache failed to get a cached setting for 'core.module.loadDebugInfo'
[0:0 Default error] SettingsCache failed to get a cached setting for 'core.module.configureExtendedAnalysis'
[0:0 Default error] SettingsCache failed to get a cached setting for 'core.module.initialPointerAnalysis'
[0:0 Default error] SettingsCache failed to get a cached setting for 'core.module.stringsAnalysis'
[0:0 Default error] SettingsCache failed to get a cached setting for 'core.module.stringsAnalysis'
BinaryView type: Mapped
BinaryView version: 5.4.9488-dev

BinaryView loads the expected type without the BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS environment variable:

$ cat /tmp/test.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3

from binaryninja import *
bv = load("/bin/ls")
print(f"BinaryView type: {bv.view_type}")
print(f"BinaryView version: {core_version()}")

$ /tmp/test.py
BinaryView type: ELF
BinaryView version: 5.4.9488-dev

This is a regression from current stable channel:

$ cat /tmp/test.py
#!/usr/bin/env -S BN_DISABLE_REPOSITORY_PLUGINS=1 python3

from binaryninja import *
bv = load("/bin/ls")
print(f"BinaryView type: {bv.view_type}")
print(f"BinaryView version: {core_version()}")

$ /tmp/test.py
BinaryView type: ELF
BinaryView version: 5.3.9434