1 .TH ZLIB 3 "28 Apr 2013"
   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, assuming that the standard library functions
  13 used are thread safe, such as memory allocation routines.
  14 It provides in-memory compression and decompression functions,
  15 including integrity checks of the uncompressed data.
  16 This version of the library supports only one compression method (deflation)
  17 but other algorithms may be added later
  18 with the same stream interface.
  19 .LP
  20 Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough
  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 the 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 test/example.c
  40 and
  41 .IR test/minigzip.c,
  42 as well as other examples in the
  43 .IR examples/
  44 directory.
  45 .LP
  46 Changes to this version are documented in the file
  47 .I ChangeLog
  48 that accompanies the source.
  49 .LP
  50 .I zlib
  51 is available in Java using the java.util.zip package:
  52 .IP
  53 http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Programming/compression/
  54 .LP
  55 A Perl interface to
  56 .IR zlib ,
  57 written by Paul Marquess (pmqs@cpan.org),
  58 is available at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites,
  59 including:
  60 .IP
  61 http://search.cpan.org/~pmqs/IO-Compress-Zlib/
  62 .LP
  63 A Python interface to
  64 .IR zlib ,
  65 written by A.M. Kuchling (amk@magnet.com),
  66 is available in Python 1.5 and later versions:
  67 .IP
  68 http://docs.python.org/library/zlib.html
  69 .LP
  70 .I zlib
  71 is built into
  72 .IR tcl:
  73 .IP
  74 http://wiki.tcl.tk/4610
  75 .LP
  76 An experimental package to read and write files in .zip format,
  77 written on top of
  78 .I zlib
  79 by Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com),
  80 is available at:
  81 .IP
  82 http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/minizip.html
  83 and also in the
  84 .I contrib/minizip
  85 directory of the main
  86 .I zlib
  87 source distribution.
  88 .SH "SEE ALSO"
  89 The
  90 .I zlib
  91 web site can be found at:
  92 .IP
  93 http://zlib.net/
  94 .LP
  95 The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC
  96 (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files:
  97 .IP
  98 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1950 (for the zlib header and trailer format)
  99 .br
 100 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1951 (for the deflate compressed data format)
 101 .br
 102 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1952 (for the gzip header and trailer format)
 103 .LP
 104 Mark Nelson wrote an article about
 105 .I zlib
 106 for the Jan. 1997 issue of  Dr. Dobb's Journal;
 107 a copy of the article is available at:
 108 .IP
 109 http://marknelson.us/1997/01/01/zlib-engine/
 110 .SH "REPORTING PROBLEMS"
 111 Before reporting a problem,
 112 please check the
 113 .I zlib
 114 web site to verify that you have the latest version of
 115 .IR zlib ;
 116 otherwise,
 117 obtain the latest version and see if the problem still exists.
 118 Please read the
 119 .I zlib
 120 FAQ at:
 121 .IP
 122 http://zlib.net/zlib_faq.html
 123 .LP
 124 before asking for help.
 125 Send questions and/or comments to zlib@gzip.org,
 126 or (for the Windows DLL version) to Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com).
 127 .SH AUTHORS
 128 Version 1.2.8
 129 Copyright (C) 1995-2013 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org)
 130 and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu).
 131 .LP
 132 This software is provided "as-is,"
 133 without any express or implied warranty.
 134 In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
 135 arising from the use of this software.
 136 See the distribution directory with respect to requirements
 137 governing redistribution.
 138 The deflate format used by
 139 .I zlib
 140 was defined by Phil Katz.
 141 The deflate and
 142 .I zlib
 143 specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch.
 144 Thanks to all the people who reported problems and suggested various
 145 improvements in
 146 .IR zlib ;
 147 who are too numerous to cite here.
 148 .LP
 149 UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers,
 150 U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov).
 151 .\" end of man page