ZLIB(3) 						     Library Functions Manual							   ZLIB(3)

NAME

       zlib - compression/decompression library

SYNOPSIS

       [see zlib.h for full description]

DESCRIPTION

       The zlib library is a general purpose data compression library.	The code is thread safe, assuming that the standard library functions used
       are thread safe, such as memory allocation routines.  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 may be
       added later with the same stream interface.

       Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough 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.

       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 the 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 test/example.c and test/minigzip.c, as well as other examples in the examples/ directory.

       Changes to this version are documented in the file ChangeLog that accompanies the source.

       zlib is built in to many languages and operating systems, including but not limited to Java, Python, .NET, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Swift, and Go.

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

	      http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/minizip.html and also in the contrib/minizip directory of the main zlib source distribution.

SEE ALSO

       The zlib web site can be found at:

	      http://zlib.net/

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

	      http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1950 (for the zlib header and trailer format)
	      http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1951 (for the deflate compressed data format)
	      http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1952 (for the gzip header and trailer format)

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

	      http://marknelson.us/1997/01/01/zlib-engine/

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://zlib.net/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 AND LICENSE

       Version 1.2.11

       Copyright (C) 1995-2017 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler

       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.

       Permission  is  granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute
       it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

       1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use  this  soft-
	  ware in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

       2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

       3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

       Jean-loup Gailly        Mark Adler
       jloup@gzip.org	       madler@alumni.caltech.edu

       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).

								    15 Jan 2017 							   ZLIB(3)