src/zlib/zlib.3

   1 .TH ZLIB 3 "11 March 2002"
   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 and will have the same stream interface.
  17 .LP
  18 Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough
  19 (for example if an input file is mmap'ed),
  20 or can be done by repeated calls of the compression function.
  21 In the latter case,
  22 the application must provide more input and/or consume the output
  23 (providing more output space) before each call.
  24 .LP
  25 The library also supports reading and writing files in
  26 .I gzip
  27 (.gz) format
  28 with an interface similar to that of stdio.
  29 .LP
  30 The library does not install any signal handler. The decoder checks
  31 the consistency of the compressed data, so the library should never
  32 crash even in case of corrupted input.
  33 .LP
  34 All functions of the compression library are documented in the file
  35 .IR zlib.h.
  36 The distribution source includes examples of use of the library
  37 the files
  38 .I example.c
  39 and
  40 .IR minigzip.c .
  41 .LP
  42 A Java implementation of
  43 .IR zlib
  44 is available in the Java Development Kit 1.1
  45 .IP
  46 http://www.javasoft.com/products/JDK/1.1/docs/api/Package-java.util.zip.html
  47 .LP
  48 A Perl interface to
  49 .IR zlib ,
  50 written by Paul Marquess (pmarquess@bfsec.bt.co.uk)
  51 is available at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites,
  52 such as:
  53 .IP
  54 ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/Compress/Compress-Zlib*
  55 .LP
  56 A Python interface to
  57 .IR zlib
  58 written by A.M. Kuchling <amk@magnet.com>
  59 is available from the Python Software Association sites, such as:
  60 .IP
  61 ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/contrib/Encoding/zlib*.tar.gz
  62 .SH "SEE ALSO"
  63 Questions about zlib should be sent to:
  64 .IP
  65 zlib@quest.jpl.nasa.gov
  66 or, if this fails, to the author addresses given below.
  67 The zlib home page is:
  68 .IP
  69 http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/
  70 .LP
  71 The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC
  72 (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files:
  73 .IP
  74 ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1950.txt (zlib format)
  75 .br
  76 rfc1951.txt (deflate format)
  77 .br
  78 rfc1952.txt (gzip format)
  79 .LP
  80 These documents are also available in other formats from:
  81 .IP
  82 ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/documents/zlib/zdoc-index.html
  83 .SH AUTHORS
  84 Version 1.1.4
  85 Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org)
  86 and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu).
  87 .LP
  88 This software is provided "as-is,"
  89 without any express or implied warranty.
  90 In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
  91 arising from the use of this software.
  92 See the distribution directory with respect to requirements
  93 governing redistribution.
  94 The deflate format used by
  95 .I zlib
  96 was defined by Phil Katz.
  97 The deflate and
  98 .I zlib
  99 specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch.
 100 Thanks to all the people who reported problems and suggested various
 101 improvements in
 102 .IR zlib ;
 103 who are too numerous to cite here.
 104 .LP
 105 UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers,
 106 U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov).
 107 .\" end of man page