| 1 | .TH ZLIB 3 "3 October 2004" |
| 2 | .SH NAME |
| 3 | zlib \- compression/decompression library |
| 4 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 5 | [see |
| 6 | .I zlib.h |
| 7 | for full description] |
| 8 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
| 9 | The |
| 10 | .I zlib |
| 11 | library is a general purpose data compression library. |
| 12 | The code is thread safe. |
| 13 | It provides in-memory compression and decompression functions, |
| 14 | including integrity checks of the uncompressed data. |
| 15 | This version of the library supports only one compression method (deflation) |
| 16 | but other algorithms will be added later |
| 17 | and will have the same stream interface. |
| 18 | .LP |
| 19 | Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough |
| 20 | (for example if an input file is mmap'ed), |
| 21 | or can be done by repeated calls of the compression function. |
| 22 | In the latter case, |
| 23 | the application must provide more input and/or consume the output |
| 24 | (providing more output space) before each call. |
| 25 | .LP |
| 26 | The library also supports reading and writing files in |
| 27 | .IR gzip (1) |
| 28 | (.gz) format |
| 29 | with an interface similar to that of stdio. |
| 30 | .LP |
| 31 | The library does not install any signal handler. |
| 32 | The decoder checks the consistency of the compressed data, |
| 33 | so the library should never crash even in case of corrupted input. |
| 34 | .LP |
| 35 | All functions of the compression library are documented in the file |
| 36 | .IR zlib.h . |
| 37 | The distribution source includes examples of use of the library |
| 38 | in the files |
| 39 | .I example.c |
| 40 | and |
| 41 | .IR minigzip.c . |
| 42 | .LP |
| 43 | Changes to this version are documented in the file |
| 44 | .I ChangeLog |
| 45 | that accompanies the source, |
| 46 | and are concerned primarily with bug fixes and portability enhancements. |
| 47 | .LP |
| 48 | A Java implementation of |
| 49 | .I zlib |
| 50 | is available in the Java Development Kit 1.1: |
| 51 | .IP |
| 52 | http://www.javasoft.com/products/JDK/1.1/docs/api/Package-java.util.zip.html |
| 53 | .LP |
| 54 | A Perl interface to |
| 55 | .IR zlib , |
| 56 | written by Paul Marquess (pmqs@cpan.org), |
| 57 | is available at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites, |
| 58 | including: |
| 59 | .IP |
| 60 | http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Compress/ |
| 61 | .LP |
| 62 | A Python interface to |
| 63 | .IR zlib , |
| 64 | written by A.M. Kuchling (amk@magnet.com), |
| 65 | is available in Python 1.5 and later versions: |
| 66 | .IP |
| 67 | http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-zlib.html |
| 68 | .LP |
| 69 | A |
| 70 | .I zlib |
| 71 | binding for |
| 72 | .IR tcl (1), |
| 73 | written by Andreas Kupries (a.kupries@westend.com), |
| 74 | is availlable at: |
| 75 | .IP |
| 76 | http://www.westend.com/~kupries/doc/trf/man/man.html |
| 77 | .LP |
| 78 | An experimental package to read and write files in .zip format, |
| 79 | written on top of |
| 80 | .I zlib |
| 81 | by Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com), |
| 82 | is available at: |
| 83 | .IP |
| 84 | http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/unzip.html |
| 85 | and also in the |
| 86 | .I contrib/minizip |
| 87 | directory of the main |
| 88 | .I zlib |
| 89 | web site. |
| 90 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 91 | The |
| 92 | .I zlib |
| 93 | web site can be found at either of these locations: |
| 94 | .IP |
| 95 | http://www.zlib.org |
| 96 | .br |
| 97 | http://www.gzip.org/zlib/ |
| 98 | .LP |
| 99 | The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC |
| 100 | (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files: |
| 101 | .IP |
| 102 | http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1950.txt (concerning zlib format) |
| 103 | .br |
| 104 | http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1951.txt (concerning deflate format) |
| 105 | .br |
| 106 | http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1952.txt (concerning gzip format) |
| 107 | .LP |
| 108 | These documents are also available in other formats from: |
| 109 | .IP |
| 110 | ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/documents/zlib/zdoc-index.html |
| 111 | .LP |
| 112 | Mark Nelson (markn@ieee.org) wrote an article about |
| 113 | .I zlib |
| 114 | for the Jan. 1997 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal; |
| 115 | a copy of the article is available at: |
| 116 | .IP |
| 117 | http://dogma.net/markn/articles/zlibtool/zlibtool.htm |
| 118 | .SH "REPORTING PROBLEMS" |
| 119 | Before reporting a problem, |
| 120 | please check the |
| 121 | .I zlib |
| 122 | web site to verify that you have the latest version of |
| 123 | .IR zlib ; |
| 124 | otherwise, |
| 125 | obtain the latest version and see if the problem still exists. |
| 126 | Please read the |
| 127 | .I zlib |
| 128 | FAQ at: |
| 129 | .IP |
| 130 | http://www.gzip.org/zlib/zlib_faq.html |
| 131 | .LP |
| 132 | before asking for help. |
| 133 | Send questions and/or comments to zlib@gzip.org, |
| 134 | or (for the Windows DLL version) to Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com). |
| 135 | .SH AUTHORS |
| 136 | Version 1.2.2 |
| 137 | Copyright (C) 1995-2004 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org) |
| 138 | and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu). |
| 139 | .LP |
| 140 | This software is provided "as-is," |
| 141 | without any express or implied warranty. |
| 142 | In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages |
| 143 | arising from the use of this software. |
| 144 | See the distribution directory with respect to requirements |
| 145 | governing redistribution. |
| 146 | The deflate format used by |
| 147 | .I zlib |
| 148 | was defined by Phil Katz. |
| 149 | The deflate and |
| 150 | .I zlib |
| 151 | specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch. |
| 152 | Thanks to all the people who reported problems and suggested various |
| 153 | improvements in |
| 154 | .IR zlib ; |
| 155 | who are too numerous to cite here. |
| 156 | .LP |
| 157 | UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers, |
| 158 | U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov). |
| 159 | .\" end of man page |