LIBZ(3) 						     Library Functions Manual							   LIBZ(3)

NAME

       libz - compression/decompression library

SYNOPSIS

       [see zlib.h for full description]

DESCRIPTION

       The  libz  (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.

       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 (provid-
       ing more output space) before each call.

       The library also supports reading and writing files in gzip(1) (.gz) format with an interface similar to that of stdio.

       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.

       All functions of the compression library are documented in the file zlib.h.  The distribution  source  includes	examples  of  use  of  the
       library in the files example.c and minigzip.c.

       Changes	to  this  version are documented in the file ChangeLog that accompanies the source, and are concerned primarily with bug fixes and
       portability enhancements.

       A Java implementation of zlib is available in the Java Development Kit 1.1:

	      http://www.javasoft.com/products/JDK/1.1/docs/api/Package-java.util.zip.html

       A Perl interface to zlib, written by Paul Marquess (pmqs@cpan.org), is available  at  CPAN  (Comprehensive  Perl  Archive  Network)  sites,
       including:

	      http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Compress/

       A Python interface to zlib, written by A.M. Kuchling (amk@magnet.com), is available in Python 1.5 and later versions:

	      http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-zlib.html

       A zlib binding for tcl(1), written by Andreas Kupries (a.kupries@westend.com), is availlable at:

	      http://www.westend.com/~kupries/doc/trf/man/man.html

       An  experimental package to read and write files in .zip format, written on top of zlib by Gilles Vollant (info@winimage.com), is available
       at:

	      http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/unzip.html and also in the contrib/minizip directory of the main zlib web site.

SEE ALSO

       The zlib web site can be found at either of these locations:

	      http://www.zlib.org
	      http://www.gzip.org/zlib/

       The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files:

	      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1950.txt (concerning zlib format)
	      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1951.txt (concerning deflate format)
	      http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1952.txt (concerning gzip format)

       These documents are also available in other formats from:

	      ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/documents/zlib/zdoc-index.html

       Mark Nelson (markn@ieee.org) wrote an article about zlib for the Jan. 1997 issue of  Dr. Dobb's Journal; a copy of the article is available
       at:

	      http://dogma.net/markn/articles/zlibtool/zlibtool.htm

REPORTING PROBLEMS

       Before reporting a problem, please check the zlib web site to verify that you have the latest version of zlib; otherwise, obtain the latest
       version and see if the problem still exists.  Please read the zlib FAQ at:

	      http://www.gzip.org/zlib/zlib_faq.html

       before asking for help.	Send questions and/or comments to zlib@gzip.org, or (for the Windows DLL version) to Gilles  Vollant  (info@winim-
       age.com).

AUTHORS

       Version 1.2.3 Copyright (C) 1995-2005 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org) and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu).

       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  zlib  was defined by Phil Katz.  The deflate and zlib specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch.  Thanks to all the
       people who reported problems and suggested various improvements in zlib; who are too numerous to cite here.

       UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers, U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov).

NOTES

       Source for zlib is available on http://opensolaris.org.

								   18 July 2005 							   LIBZ(3)