summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/gzip.doc
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'gzip.doc')
-rw-r--r--gzip.doc388
1 files changed, 388 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/gzip.doc b/gzip.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8efea7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gzip.doc
@@ -0,0 +1,388 @@
+GZIP(1) General Commands Manual GZIP(1)
+
+1mNAME0m
+ gzip, gunzip, zcat - compress or expand files
+
+1mSYNOPSIS0m
+ 1mgzip 22m[ 1m-acdfhklLnNrtvV19 22m] [1m-S suffix22m] [ 4mname24m 4m...24m ]
+ 1mgunzip 22m[ 1m-acfhklLnNrtvV 22m] [1m-S suffix22m] [ 4mname24m 4m...24m ]
+ 1mzcat 22m[ 1m-fhLV 22m] [ 4mname24m 4m...24m ]
+
+1mDESCRIPTION0m
+ 4mGzip24m reduces the size of the named files using Lempel-Ziv coding
+ (LZ77). Whenever possible, each file is replaced by one with the
+ extension 1m.gz22m, while keeping the same ownership modes, access and modi-
+ fication times. (The default extension is 1m-gz 22mfor VMS, 1mz 22mfor MSDOS,
+ OS/2 FAT, Windows NT FAT and Atari.) If no files are specified, or if
+ a file name is "-", the standard input is compressed to the standard
+ output. 4mGzip24m will only attempt to compress regular files. In particu-
+ lar, it will ignore symbolic links.
+
+ If the compressed file name is too long for its file system, 4mgzip24m trun-
+ cates it. 4mGzip24m attempts to truncate only the parts of the file name
+ longer than 3 characters. (A part is delimited by dots.) If the name
+ consists of small parts only, the longest parts are truncated. For
+ example, if file names are limited to 14 characters, gzip.msdos.exe is
+ compressed to gzi.msd.exe.gz. Names are not truncated on systems which
+ do not have a limit on file name length.
+
+ By default, 4mgzip24m keeps the original file name and timestamp in the com-
+ pressed file. These are used when decompressing the file with the 1m-N0m
+ option. This is useful when the compressed file name was truncated or
+ when the time stamp was not preserved after a file transfer.
+
+ Compressed files can be restored to their original form using 4mgzip24m 4m-d0m
+ or 4mgunzip24m or 4mzcat24m. If the original name saved in the compressed file
+ is not suitable for its file system, a new name is constructed from the
+ original one to make it legal.
+
+ 4mgunzip24m takes a list of files on its command line and replaces each file
+ whose name ends with .gz, -gz, .z, -z, or _z (ignoring case) and which
+ begins with the correct magic number with an uncompressed file without
+ the original extension. 4mgunzip24m also recognizes the special extensions
+ 1m.tgz 22mand 1m.taz 22mas shorthands for 1m.tar.gz 22mand 1m.tar.Z 22mrespectively. When
+ compressing, 4mgzip24m uses the 1m.tgz 22mextension if necessary instead of trun-
+ cating a file with a 1m.tar 22mextension.
+
+ 4mgunzip24m can currently decompress files created by 4mgzip24m, 4mzip24m, 4mcompress24m,
+ 4mcompress24m 4m-H24m or 4mpack24m. The detection of the input format is automatic.
+ When using the first two formats, 4mgunzip24m checks a 32 bit CRC. For 4mpack0m
+ and 4mgunzip24m checks the uncompressed length. The standard 4mcompress24m format
+ was not designed to allow consistency checks. However 4mgunzip24m is some-
+ times able to detect a bad .Z file. If you get an error when uncom-
+ pressing a .Z file, do not assume that the .Z file is correct simply
+ because the standard 4muncompress24m does not complain. This generally means
+ that the standard 4muncompress24m does not check its input, and happily gen-
+ erates garbage output. The SCO compress -H format (lzh compression
+ method) does not include a CRC but also allows some consistency checks.
+
+ Files created by 4mzip24m can be uncompressed by gzip only if they have a
+ single member compressed with the 'deflation' method. This feature is
+ only intended to help conversion of tar.zip files to the tar.gz format.
+ To extract a 4mzip24m file with a single member, use a command like 4mgunzip0m
+ 4m<foo.zip24m or 4mgunzip24m 4m-S24m 4m.zip24m 4mfoo.zip24m. To extract zip files with several
+ members, use 4munzip24m instead of 4mgunzip24m.
+
+ 4mzcat24m is identical to 4mgunzip24m 1m-c22m. (On some systems, 4mzcat24m may be
+ installed as 4mgzcat24m to preserve the original link to 4mcompress24m.) 4mzcat0m
+ uncompresses either a list of files on the command line or its standard
+ input and writes the uncompressed data on standard output. 4mzcat24m will
+ uncompress files that have the correct magic number whether they have a
+ 1m.gz 22msuffix or not.
+
+ 4mGzip24m uses the Lempel-Ziv algorithm used in 4mzip24m and PKZIP. The amount
+ of compression obtained depends on the size of the input and the dis-
+ tribution of common substrings. Typically, text such as source code or
+ English is reduced by 60-70%. Compression is generally much better
+ than that achieved by LZW (as used in 4mcompress24m), Huffman coding (as
+ used in 4mpack24m), or adaptive Huffman coding (4mcompact24m).
+
+ Compression is always performed, even if the compressed file is
+ slightly larger than the original. The worst case expansion is a few
+ bytes for the gzip file header, plus 5 bytes every 32K block, or an
+ expansion ratio of 0.015% for large files. Note that the actual number
+ of used disk blocks almost never increases. 4mgzip24m preserves the mode,
+ ownership and timestamps of files when compressing or decompressing.
+
+1mOPTIONS0m
+ 1m-a --ascii0m
+ Ascii text mode: convert end-of-lines using local conventions.
+ This option is supported only on some non-Unix systems. For
+ MSDOS, CR LF is converted to LF when compressing, and LF is con-
+ verted to CR LF when decompressing.
+
+ 1m-c --stdout --to-stdout0m
+ Write output on standard output; keep original files unchanged.
+ If there are several input files, the output consists of a
+ sequence of independently compressed members. To obtain better
+ compression, concatenate all input files before compressing
+ them.
+
+ 1m-d --decompress --uncompress0m
+ Decompress.
+
+ 1m-f --force0m
+ Force compression or decompression even if the file has multiple
+ links or the corresponding file already exists, or if the com-
+ pressed data is read from or written to a terminal. If the input
+ data is not in a format recognized by 4mgzip24m, and if the option
+ --stdout is also given, copy the input data without change to
+ the standard output: let 4mzcat24m behave as 4mcat24m. If 1m-f 22mis not
+ given, and when not running in the background, 4mgzip24m prompts to
+ verify whether an existing file should be overwritten.
+
+ 1m-h --help0m
+ Display a help screen and quit.
+
+ 1m-k --keep0m
+ Keep (don't delete) input files during compression or decompres-
+ sion.
+
+ 1m-l --list0m
+ For each compressed file, list the following fields:
+
+ compressed size: size of the compressed file
+ uncompressed size: size of the uncompressed file
+ ratio: compression ratio (0.0% if unknown)
+ uncompressed_name: name of the uncompressed file
+
+ The uncompressed size is given as -1 for files not in gzip for-
+ mat, such as compressed .Z files. To get the uncompressed size
+ for such a file, you can use:
+
+ zcat file.Z | wc -c
+
+ In combination with the --verbose option, the following fields
+ are also displayed:
+
+ method: compression method
+ crc: the 32-bit CRC of the uncompressed data
+ date & time: time stamp for the uncompressed file
+
+ The compression methods currently supported are deflate, com-
+ press, lzh (SCO compress -H) and pack. The crc is given as
+ ffffffff for a file not in gzip format.
+
+ With --name, the uncompressed name, date and time are those
+ stored within the compress file if present.
+
+ With --verbose, the size totals and compression ratio for all
+ files is also displayed, unless some sizes are unknown. With
+ --quiet, the title and totals lines are not displayed.
+
+ 1m-L --license0m
+ Display the 4mgzip24m license and quit.
+
+ 1m-n --no-name0m
+ When compressing, do not save the original file name and time
+ stamp by default. (The original name is always saved if the name
+ had to be truncated.) When decompressing, do not restore the
+ original file name if present (remove only the 4mgzip24m suffix from
+ the compressed file name) and do not restore the original time
+ stamp if present (copy it from the compressed file). This option
+ is the default when decompressing.
+
+ 1m-N --name0m
+ When compressing, always save the original file name and time
+ stamp; this is the default. When decompressing, restore the
+ original file name and time stamp if present. This option is
+ useful on systems which have a limit on file name length or when
+ the time stamp has been lost after a file transfer.
+
+ 1m-q --quiet0m
+ Suppress all warnings.
+
+ 1m-r --recursive0m
+ Travel the directory structure recursively. If any of the file
+ names specified on the command line are directories, 4mgzip24m will
+ descend into the directory and compress all the files it finds
+ there (or decompress them in the case of 4mgunzip24m ).
+
+ 1m-S .suf --suffix .suf0m
+ When compressing, use suffix .suf instead of .gz. Any non-empty
+ suffix can be given, but suffixes other than .z and .gz should
+ be avoided to avoid confusion when files are transferred to
+ other systems.
+
+ When decompressing, add .suf to the beginning of the list of
+ suffixes to try, when deriving an output file name from an input
+ file name.
+
+ 1m--synchronous0m
+ Use synchronous output. With this option, 4mgzip24m is less likely
+ to lose data during a system crash, but it can be considerably
+ slower.
+
+ 1m-t --test0m
+ Test. Check the compressed file integrity.
+
+ 1m-v --verbose0m
+ Verbose. Display the name and percentage reduction for each file
+ compressed or decompressed.
+
+ 1m-V --version0m
+ Version. Display the version number and compilation options then
+ quit.
+
+ 1m-# --fast --best0m
+ Regulate the speed of compression using the specified digit 4m#24m,
+ where 1m-1 22mor 1m--fast 22mindicates the fastest compression method
+ (less compression) and 1m-9 22mor 1m--best 22mindicates the slowest com-
+ pression method (best compression). The default compression
+ level is 1m-6 22m(that is, biased towards high compression at expense
+ of speed).
+
+ 1m--rsyncable0m
+ When you synchronize a compressed file between two computers,
+ this option allows rsync to transfer only files that were
+ changed in the archive instead of the entire archive. Normally,
+ after a change is made to any file in the archive, the compres-
+ sion algorithm can generate a new version of the archive that
+ does not match the previous version of the archive. In this
+ case, rsync transfers the entire new version of the archive to
+ the remote computer. With this option, rsync can transfer only
+ the changed files as well as a small amount of metadata that is
+ required to update the archive structure in the area that was
+ changed.
+
+1mADVANCED USAGE0m
+ Multiple compressed files can be concatenated. In this case, 4mgunzip0m
+ will extract all members at once. For example:
+
+ gzip -c file1 > foo.gz
+ gzip -c file2 >> foo.gz
+
+ Then
+
+ gunzip -c foo
+
+ is equivalent to
+
+ cat file1 file2
+
+ In case of damage to one member of a .gz file, other members can still
+ be recovered (if the damaged member is removed). However, you can get
+ better compression by compressing all members at once:
+
+ cat file1 file2 | gzip > foo.gz
+
+ compresses better than
+
+ gzip -c file1 file2 > foo.gz
+
+ If you want to recompress concatenated files to get better compression,
+ do:
+
+ gzip -cd old.gz | gzip > new.gz
+
+ If a compressed file consists of several members, the uncompressed size
+ and CRC reported by the --list option applies to the last member only.
+ If you need the uncompressed size for all members, you can use:
+
+ gzip -cd file.gz | wc -c
+
+ If you wish to create a single archive file with multiple members so
+ that members can later be extracted independently, use an archiver such
+ as tar or zip. GNU tar supports the -z option to invoke gzip transpar-
+ ently. gzip is designed as a complement to tar, not as a replacement.
+
+1mENVIRONMENT0m
+ The obsolescent environment variable 1mGZIP 22mcan hold a set of default
+ options for 4mgzip24m. These options are interpreted first and can be over-
+ written by explicit command line parameters. As this can cause prob-
+ lems when using scripts, this feature is supported only for options
+ that are reasonably likely to not cause too much harm, and 4mgzip24m warns
+ if it is used. This feature will be removed in a future release of
+ 4mgzip24m.
+
+ You can use an alias or script instead. For example, if 4mgzip24m is in the
+ directory 1m/usr/bin 22myou can prepend 1m$HOME/bin 22mto your 1mPATH 22mand create an
+ executable script 1m$HOME/bin/gzip 22mcontaining the following:
+
+ #! /bin/sh
+ export PATH=/usr/bin
+ exec gzip -9 "$@"
+
+ On VMS, the name of the obsolescent environment variable is GZIP_OPT,
+ to avoid a conflict with the symbol set for invocation of the program.
+
+1mSEE ALSO0m
+ znew(1), zcmp(1), zmore(1), zforce(1), gzexe(1), zip(1), unzip(1), com-
+ press(1)
+
+ The 4mgzip24m file format is specified in P. Deutsch, GZIP file format spec-
+ ification version 4.3, 1m<http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1952.txt>22m, Internet
+ RFC 1952 (May 1996). The 4mzip24m deflation format is specified in P.
+ Deutsch, DEFLATE Compressed Data Format Specification version 1.3,
+ 1m<http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1951.txt>22m, Internet RFC 1951 (May 1996).
+
+1mDIAGNOSTICS0m
+ Exit status is normally 0; if an error occurs, exit status is 1. If a
+ warning occurs, exit status is 2.
+
+ Usage: gzip [-cdfhklLnNrtvV19] [-S suffix] [file ...]
+ Invalid options were specified on the command line.
+
+ 4mfile24m: not in gzip format
+ The file specified to 4mgunzip24m has not been compressed.
+
+ 4mfile24m: Corrupt input. Use zcat to recover some data.
+ The compressed file has been damaged. The data up to the point
+ of failure can be recovered using
+
+ zcat 4mfile24m > recover
+
+ 4mfile24m: compressed with 4mxx24m bits, can only handle 4myy24m bits
+ 4mFile24m was compressed (using LZW) by a program that could deal
+ with more 4mbits24m than the decompress code on this machine. Recom-
+ press the file with gzip, which compresses better and uses less
+ memory.
+
+ 4mfile24m: already has .gz suffix -- unchanged
+ The file is assumed to be already compressed. Rename the file
+ and try again.
+
+ 4mfile24m already exists; do you wish to overwrite (y or n)?
+ Respond "y" if you want the output file to be replaced; "n" if
+ not.
+
+ gunzip: corrupt input
+ A SIGSEGV violation was detected which usually means that the
+ input file has been corrupted.
+
+ 4mxx.x%24m Percentage of the input saved by compression.
+ (Relevant only for 1m-v 22mand 1m-l22m.)
+
+ -- not a regular file or directory: ignored
+ When the input file is not a regular file or directory, (e.g. a
+ symbolic link, socket, FIFO, device file), it is left unaltered.
+
+ -- has 4mxx24m other links: unchanged
+ The input file has links; it is left unchanged. See 4mln24m(1) for
+ more information. Use the 1m-f 22mflag to force compression of multi-
+ ply-linked files.
+
+1mCAVEATS0m
+ When writing compressed data to a tape, it is generally necessary to
+ pad the output with zeroes up to a block boundary. When the data is
+ read and the whole block is passed to 4mgunzip24m for decompression, 4mgunzip0m
+ detects that there is extra trailing garbage after the compressed data
+ and emits a warning by default. You can use the --quiet option to sup-
+ press the warning.
+
+1mBUGS0m
+ The gzip format represents the input size modulo 2^32, so the --list
+ option reports incorrect uncompressed sizes and compression ratios for
+ uncompressed files 4 GB and larger. To work around this problem, you
+ can use the following command to discover a large uncompressed file's
+ true size:
+
+ zcat file.gz | wc -c
+
+ The --list option reports sizes as -1 and crc as ffffffff if the com-
+ pressed file is on a non seekable media.
+
+ In some rare cases, the --best option gives worse compression than the
+ default compression level (-6). On some highly redundant files, 4mcom-0m
+ 4mpress24m compresses better than 4mgzip24m.
+
+1mCOPYRIGHT NOTICE0m
+ Copyright (C) 1998-1999, 2001-2002, 2012, 2015-2016 Free Software Foun-
+ dation, Inc.
+ Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Jean-loup Gailly
+
+ Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
+ manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
+ preserved on all copies.
+
+ Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
+ manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
+ entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a per-
+ mission notice identical to this one.
+
+ Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this man-
+ ual into another language, under the above conditions for modified ver-
+ sions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a transla-
+ tion approved by the Foundation.
+
+ local GZIP(1)