| .TH ZLIB 3 "18 July 2005" | |
| .SH NAME | |
| zlib \- compression/decompression library | |
| .SH SYNOPSIS | |
| [see | |
| .I zlib.h | |
| for full description] | |
| .SH DESCRIPTION | |
| The | |
| .I zlib | |
| library is a general purpose data compression library. | |
| The code is thread safe. | |
| It provides in-memory compression and decompression functions, | |
| including integrity checks of the uncompressed data. | |
| This version of the library supports only one compression method (deflation) | |
| but other algorithms will be added later | |
| and will have the same stream interface. | |
| .LP | |
| Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough | |
| (for example if an input file is mmap'ed), | |
| or can be done by repeated calls of the compression function. | |
| In the latter case, | |
| the application must provide more input and/or consume the output | |
| (providing more output space) before each call. | |
| .LP | |
| The library also supports reading and writing files in | |
| .IR gzip (1) | |
| (.gz) format | |
| with an interface similar to that of stdio. | |
| .LP | |
| The library does not install any signal handler. | |
| The decoder checks the consistency of the compressed data, | |
| so the library should never crash even in case of corrupted input. | |
| .LP | |
| All functions of the compression library are documented in the file | |
| .IR zlib.h . | |
| The distribution source includes examples of use of the library | |
| in the files | |
| .I example.c | |
| and | |
| .IR minigzip.c . | |
| .LP | |
| Changes to this version are documented in the file | |
| .I ChangeLog | |
| that accompanies the source, | |
| and are concerned primarily with bug fixes and portability enhancements. | |
| .LP | |
| A Java implementation of | |
| .I zlib | |
| is available in the Java Development Kit 1.1: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.javasoft.com/products/JDK/1.1/docs/api/Package-java.util.zip.html | |
| .LP | |
| A Perl interface to | |
| .IR zlib , | |
| written by Paul Marquess (pmqs@cpan.org), | |
| is available at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites, | |
| including: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Compress/ | |
| .LP | |
| A Python interface to | |
| .IR zlib , | |
| written by A.M. Kuchling (amk@magnet.com), | |
| is available in Python 1.5 and later versions: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-zlib.html | |
| .LP | |
| A | |
| .I zlib | |
| binding for | |
| .IR tcl (1), | |
| written by Andreas Kupries (a.kupries@westend.com), | |
| is availlable at: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.westend.com/~kupries/doc/trf/man/man.html | |
| .LP | |
| An experimental package to read and write files in .zip format, | |
| written on top of | |
| .I zlib | |
| by Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com), | |
| is available at: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/unzip.html | |
| and also in the | |
| .I contrib/minizip | |
| directory of the main | |
| .I zlib | |
| web site. | |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" | |
| The | |
| .I zlib | |
| web site can be found at either of these locations: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.zlib.org | |
| .br | |
| http://www.gzip.org/zlib/ | |
| .LP | |
| The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC | |
| (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1950.txt (concerning zlib format) | |
| .br | |
| http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1951.txt (concerning deflate format) | |
| .br | |
| http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1952.txt (concerning gzip format) | |
| .LP | |
| These documents are also available in other formats from: | |
| .IP | |
| ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/documents/zlib/zdoc-index.html | |
| .LP | |
| Mark Nelson (markn@ieee.org) wrote an article about | |
| .I zlib | |
| for the Jan. 1997 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal; | |
| a copy of the article is available at: | |
| .IP | |
| http://dogma.net/markn/articles/zlibtool/zlibtool.htm | |
| .SH "REPORTING PROBLEMS" | |
| Before reporting a problem, | |
| please check the | |
| .I zlib | |
| web site to verify that you have the latest version of | |
| .IR zlib ; | |
| otherwise, | |
| obtain the latest version and see if the problem still exists. | |
| Please read the | |
| .I zlib | |
| FAQ at: | |
| .IP | |
| http://www.gzip.org/zlib/zlib_faq.html | |
| .LP | |
| before asking for help. | |
| Send questions and/or comments to zlib@gzip.org, | |
| or (for the Windows DLL version) to Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com). | |
| .SH AUTHORS | |
| Version 1.2.3 | |
| Copyright (C) 1995-2005 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org) | |
| and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu). | |
| .LP | |
| This software is provided "as-is," | |
| without any express or implied warranty. | |
| In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages | |
| arising from the use of this software. | |
| See the distribution directory with respect to requirements | |
| governing redistribution. | |
| The deflate format used by | |
| .I zlib | |
| was defined by Phil Katz. | |
| The deflate and | |
| .I zlib | |
| specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch. | |
| Thanks to all the people who reported problems and suggested various | |
| improvements in | |
| .IR zlib ; | |
| who are too numerous to cite here. | |
| .LP | |
| UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers, | |
| U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov). | |
| .\" end of man page |