Slackware Linux Essentials
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Chapter 15 Archive Files

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Table of Contents
15.1 gzip
15.2 bzip2
15.3 tar
15.4 zip

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15.1 `gzip`

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gzip(1) is the GNU compression program. It takes a single -file and compresses it. The basic usage is as follows:

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-% gzip filename
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The resulting file will be named filename.gz and will usually be smaller than the input -file. Note that filename.gz will replace filename. This means that filename will -no longer exist, even though a gzipped copy will. Regular text files will compress -nicely, while jpeg images, mp3s, and other such files will not compress too well as they -are already compressed. This basic usage is a balance of final file size and compression -time. The maximum compression can be achieved like so:

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-% gzip -9 filename
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This will take a longer time to compress the file, but the result will be as small as -gzip can make it. Using lower values for the command line option -will cause it to compress faster, but the file will not be as compressed.

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Decompressing gzipped files can be done using two commands, which are really just the -same program. gzip will decompress any file with a recognized -file extension. A recognized extension can be any of the following: .gz, -gz, .z, --z, .Z, or -Z. The first method is to call gunzip(1) -on a file, like so:

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-% gunzip filename.gz
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This will leave a decompressed version of infile in the current directory, and the .gz extension will be stripped from the filename. gunzip is really part of gzip and is -identical to gzip -d. As such, gzip is -often pronounced gunzip, as that name just sounds cooler. -:^)

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Keeping Current		`bzip2`

Chapter 15 Archive Files

15.1 gzip

15.1 `gzip`