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diff --git a/Documentation/xz.txt b/Documentation/xz.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b2220d03a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/xz.txt @@ -0,0 +1,127 @@ +============================ +XZ data compression in Linux +============================ + +Introduction +============ + +XZ is a general purpose data compression format with high compression +ratio and relatively fast decompression. The primary compression +algorithm (filter) is LZMA2. Additional filters can be used to improve +compression ratio even further. E.g. Branch/Call/Jump (BCJ) filters +improve compression ratio of executable data. + +The XZ decompressor in Linux is called XZ Embedded. It supports +the LZMA2 filter and optionally also BCJ filters. CRC32 is supported +for integrity checking. The home page of XZ Embedded is at +<http://tukaani.org/xz/embedded.html>, where you can find the +latest version and also information about using the code outside +the Linux kernel. + +For userspace, XZ Utils provide a zlib-like compression library +and a gzip-like command line tool. XZ Utils can be downloaded from +<http://tukaani.org/xz/>. + +XZ related components in the kernel +=================================== + +The xz_dec module provides XZ decompressor with single-call (buffer +to buffer) and multi-call (stateful) APIs. The usage of the xz_dec +module is documented in include/linux/xz.h. + +The xz_dec_test module is for testing xz_dec. xz_dec_test is not +useful unless you are hacking the XZ decompressor. xz_dec_test +allocates a char device major dynamically to which one can write +.xz files from userspace. The decompressed output is thrown away. +Keep an eye on dmesg to see diagnostics printed by xz_dec_test. +See the xz_dec_test source code for the details. + +For decompressing the kernel image, initramfs, and initrd, there +is a wrapper function in lib/decompress_unxz.c. Its API is the +same as in other decompress_*.c files, which is defined in +include/linux/decompress/generic.h. + +scripts/xz_wrap.sh is a wrapper for the xz command line tool found +from XZ Utils. The wrapper sets compression options to values suitable +for compressing the kernel image. + +For kernel makefiles, two commands are provided for use with +$(call if_needed). The kernel image should be compressed with +$(call if_needed,xzkern) which will use a BCJ filter and a big LZMA2 +dictionary. It will also append a four-byte trailer containing the +uncompressed size of the file, which is needed by the boot code. +Other things should be compressed with $(call if_needed,xzmisc) +which will use no BCJ filter and 1 MiB LZMA2 dictionary. + +Notes on compression options +============================ + +Since the XZ Embedded supports only streams with no integrity check or +CRC32, make sure that you don't use some other integrity check type +when encoding files that are supposed to be decoded by the kernel. With +liblzma, you need to use either LZMA_CHECK_NONE or LZMA_CHECK_CRC32 +when encoding. With the xz command line tool, use --check=none or +--check=crc32. + +Using CRC32 is strongly recommended unless there is some other layer +which will verify the integrity of the uncompressed data anyway. +Double checking the integrity would probably be waste of CPU cycles. +Note that the headers will always have a CRC32 which will be validated +by the decoder; you can only change the integrity check type (or +disable it) for the actual uncompressed data. + +In userspace, LZMA2 is typically used with dictionary sizes of several +megabytes. The decoder needs to have the dictionary in RAM, thus big +dictionaries cannot be used for files that are intended to be decoded +by the kernel. 1 MiB is probably the maximum reasonable dictionary +size for in-kernel use (maybe more is OK for initramfs). The presets +in XZ Utils may not be optimal when creating files for the kernel, +so don't hesitate to use custom settings. Example:: + + xz --check=crc32 --lzma2=dict=512KiB inputfile + +An exception to above dictionary size limitation is when the decoder +is used in single-call mode. Decompressing the kernel itself is an +example of this situation. In single-call mode, the memory usage +doesn't depend on the dictionary size, and it is perfectly fine to +use a big dictionary: for maximum compression, the dictionary should +be at least as big as the uncompressed data itself. + +Future plans +============ + +Creating a limited XZ encoder may be considered if people think it is +useful. LZMA2 is slower to compress than e.g. Deflate or LZO even at +the fastest settings, so it isn't clear if LZMA2 encoder is wanted +into the kernel. + +Support for limited random-access reading is planned for the +decompression code. I don't know if it could have any use in the +kernel, but I know that it would be useful in some embedded projects +outside the Linux kernel. + +Conformance to the .xz file format specification +================================================ + +There are a couple of corner cases where things have been simplified +at expense of detecting errors as early as possible. These should not +matter in practice all, since they don't cause security issues. But +it is good to know this if testing the code e.g. with the test files +from XZ Utils. + +Reporting bugs +============== + +Before reporting a bug, please check that it's not fixed already +at upstream. See <http://tukaani.org/xz/embedded.html> to get the +latest code. + +Report bugs to <lasse.collin@tukaani.org> or visit #tukaani on +Freenode and talk to Larhzu. I don't actively read LKML or other +kernel-related mailing lists, so if there's something I should know, +you should email to me personally or use IRC. + +Don't bother Igor Pavlov with questions about the XZ implementation +in the kernel or about XZ Utils. While these two implementations +include essential code that is directly based on Igor Pavlov's code, +these implementations aren't maintained nor supported by him. |