src/zlib/zlib.3

   1 .TH ZLIB 3 "17 November 2003"
   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 1.2.1
 137 Copyright (C) 1995-2003 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