UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I last worked in a SCO Unix shop 13 years ago and wrote a utility to produce the record layout of a COBOL file description and saved it as a *.Z file. What do I need to do to create an executable of it? I will be working there in a week or so and want to be as ready as possible.

I am not able to post a link yet. If you search for "warren porter webpage" (hosted by comcast) and the "programmer" link, you'll find my Z files.


TIA

Talking generic Unix, the .Z suffix means it's a compressed file (typically to save disk space).

Many Unix operating systems have commands:

Code:

compress <filename>

and

Code:

uncompress <filename>

The uncompress command will remove the compression from the data and leave you with the original format which could be anything.

For example, you could create a tar file called 'abc'. If you run

Code:

compress abc

you will end up with abc.Z The original 'abc' file is gone.

If you then run

Code:

 
uncompress abc.Z

you get 'abc' back again.

You need to then know what 'abc' originally was/is in order to read it.

I haven't looked at your files yet but does that help?

(It's been a while since I used SCO but I do know that compress/uncompress works on SCO.)

Many thanks! I haven't done anything in Unix for quite a while so it will take some time go get back in the swing of things.