This is lzip.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.13 from lzip.texinfo. INFO-DIR-SECTION Data Compression START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Lzip: (lzip). Data compressor based on the LZMA algorithm END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY  File: lzip.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir) Lzip **** This manual is for Lzip (version 1.7, 25 June 2009). * Menu: * Introduction:: Purpose and features of lzip * Algorithm:: How lzip compresses the data * Invoking Lzip:: Command line interface * File Format:: Detailed format of the compressed file * Examples:: A small tutorial with examples * Lzdiff:: Comparing compressed files * Lzgrep:: Searching inside compressed files * Lziprecover:: Recovering data from damaged compressed files * Problems:: Reporting bugs * Concept Index:: Index of concepts Copyright (C) 2008, 2009 Antonio Diaz Diaz. This manual is free documentation: you have unlimited permission to copy, distribute and modify it.  File: lzip.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Algorithm, Prev: Top, Up: Top 1 Introduction ************** Lzip is a lossless data compressor based on the LZMA algorithm, with very safe integrity checking and a user interface similar to the one of gzip or bzip2. Lzip decompresses almost as fast as gzip and compresses better than bzip2, which makes it well suited for software distribution and data archiving. Lzip replaces every file given in the command line with a compressed version of itself, with the name "original_name.lz". Each compressed file has the same modification date, permissions, and, when possible, ownership as the corresponding original, so that these properties can be correctly restored at decompression time. Lzip is able to read from some types of non regular files if the `--stdout' option is specified. If no file names are specified, lzip compresses (or decompresses) from standard input to standard output. In this case, lzip will decline to write compressed output to a terminal, as this would be entirely incomprehensible and therefore pointless. Lzip will correctly decompress a file which is the concatenation of two or more compressed files. The result is the concatenation of the corresponding uncompressed files. Integrity testing of concatenated compressed files is also supported. Lzip can produce multimember files and safely recover, with lziprecover, the undamaged members in case of file damage. Lzip can also split the compressed output in volumes of a given size, even when reading from standard input. This allows the direct creation of multivolume compressed tar archives. The amount of memory required for compression is about 5 MiB plus 1 or 2 times the dictionary size limit (1 if input file size is less than dictionary size limit, else 2) plus 8 times the dictionary size really used. For decompression is a little more than the dictionary size really used. Lzip will automatically use the smallest possible dictionary size for each member without exceeding the given limit. It is important to appreciate that the decompression memory requirement is affected at compression time by the choice of dictionary size limit. When decompressing, lzip attempts to guess the name for the decompressed file from that of the compressed file as follows: filename.lz becomes filename filename.tlz becomes filename.tar anyothername becomes anyothername.out As a self-check for your protection, lzip stores in the member trailer the 32-bit CRC of the original data and the size of the original data, to make sure that the decompressed version of the data is identical to the original. This guards against corruption of the compressed data, and against undetected bugs in lzip (hopefully very unlikely). The chances of data corruption going undetected are microscopic, less than one chance in 4000 million for each member processed. Be aware, though, that the check occurs upon decompression, so it can only tell you that something is wrong. It can't help you recover the original uncompressed data. Return values: 0 for a normal exit, 1 for environmental problems (file not found, invalid flags, I/O errors, etc), 2 to indicate a corrupt or invalid input file, 3 for an internal consistency error (eg, bug) which caused lzip to panic.  File: lzip.info, Node: Algorithm, Next: Invoking Lzip, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top 2 Algorithm *********** Lzip implements a simplified version of the LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain-Algorithm) algorithm. The original LZMA algorithm was designed by Igor Pavlov. The high compression of LZMA comes from combining two basic, well-proven compression ideas: sliding dictionaries (LZ77/78) and markov models (the thing used by every compression algorithm that uses a range encoder or similar order-0 entropy coder as its last stage) with segregation of contexts according to what the bits are used for. Lzip is a two stage compressor. The first stage is a Lempel-Ziv coder, which reduces redundancy by translating chunks of data to their corresponding distance-length pairs. The second stage is a range encoder that uses a different probability model for each type of data; distances, lengths, literal bytes, etc. The match finder, part of the LZ coder, is the most important piece of the LZMA algorithm, as it is in many Lempel-Ziv based algorithms. Most of lzip's execution time is spent in the match finder, and it has the greatest influence on the compression ratio. Here is how it works, step by step: 1) The member header is written to the output stream. 2) The first byte is coded literally, because there are no previous bytes to which the match finder can refer to. 3) The main encoder advances to the next byte in the input data and calls the match finder. 4) The match finder fills an array with the minimum distances before the current byte where a match of a given length can be found. 5) Go back to step 3 until a sequence (formed of pairs, repeated distances and literal bytes) of minimum price has been formed. Where the price represents the number of output bits produced. 6) The range encoder encodes the sequence produced by the main encoder and sends the produced bytes to the output stream. 7) Go back to step 3 until the input data is finished or until the member or volume size limits are reached. 8) The range encoder is flushed. 9) The member trailer is written to the output stream. 10) If there are more data to compress, go back to step 1.  File: lzip.info, Node: Invoking Lzip, Next: File Format, Prev: Algorithm, Up: Top 3 Invoking Lzip *************** The format for running lzip is: lzip [OPTIONS] [FILES] Lzip supports the following options: `--help' `-h' Print an informative help message describing the options and exit. `--version' `-V' Print the version number of lzip on the standard output and exit. `--member-size=SIZE' `-b SIZE' Produce a multimember file and set the member size limit to SIZE bytes. Minimum member size limit is 100kB. Small member size may degrade compression ratio, so use it only when needed. The default is to produce single member files. `--stdout' `-c' Compress or decompress to standard output. Needed when reading from a named pipe (fifo) or from a device. Use it to recover as much of the uncompressed data as possible when decompressing a corrupt file. `--decompress' `-d' Decompress. `--force' `-f' Force overwrite of output file. `--keep' `-k' Keep (don't delete) input files during compression or decompression. `--match-length=LENGTH' `-m LENGTH' Set the match length limit in bytes. Valid values range from 5 to 273. Larger values usually give better compression ratios but longer compression times. `--output=FILE' `-o FILE' When reading from standard input and `--stdout' has not been specified, use `FILE' as the virtual name of the uncompressed file. This produces a file named `FILE' when decompressing, a file named `FILE.lz' when compressing, and several files named `FILE00001.lz', `FILE00002.lz', etc, when compressing and splitting the output in volumes. `--quiet' `-q' Quiet operation. Suppress all messages. `--dictionary-size=SIZE' `-s SIZE' Set the dictionary size limit in bytes. Valid values range from 4KiB to 512MiB. Lzip will use the smallest possible dictionary size for each member without exceeding this limit. Note that dictionary sizes are quantized. If the specified size does not match one of the valid sizes, it will be rounded upwards. `--volume-size=SIZE' `-S SIZE' Split the compressed output into several volume files with names `original_name00001.lz', `original_name00002.lz', etc, and set the volume size limit to SIZE bytes. Each volume is a complete, maybe multimember, lzip file. Minimum volume size limit is 100kB. Small volume size may degrade compression ratio, so use it only when needed. `--test' `-t' Check integrity of the specified file(s), but don't decompress them. This really performs a trial decompression and throws away the result. Use `-tvv' or `-tvvv' to see information about the file. `--verbose' `-v' Verbose mode. Show the compression ratio for each file processed. Further -v's increase the verbosity level. `-1 .. -9' Set the compression parameters (dictionary size and match length limit) as shown in the table below. Note that `-9' can be much slower than `-1'. These options have no effect when decompressing. Level Dictionary size Match length limit -1 1MiB 10 bytes -2 1MiB 12 bytes -3 1MiB 17 bytes -4 2MiB 26 bytes -5 4MiB 44 bytes -6 8MiB 80 bytes -7 16MiB 108 bytes -8 16MiB 163 bytes -9 32MiB 273 bytes `--fast' `--best' Aliases for GNU gzip compatibility. Numbers given as arguments to options may be followed by a multiplier and an optional `B' for "byte". Table of SI and binary prefixes (unit multipliers): Prefix Value | Prefix Value k kilobyte (10^3 = 1000) | Ki kibibyte (2^10 = 1024) M megabyte (10^6) | Mi mebibyte (2^20) G gigabyte (10^9) | Gi gibibyte (2^30) T terabyte (10^12) | Ti tebibyte (2^40) P petabyte (10^15) | Pi pebibyte (2^50) E exabyte (10^18) | Ei exbibyte (2^60) Z zettabyte (10^21) | Zi zebibyte (2^70) Y yottabyte (10^24) | Yi yobibyte (2^80)  File: lzip.info, Node: File Format, Next: Examples, Prev: Invoking Lzip, Up: Top 4 File Format ************* In the diagram below, a box like this: +---+ | | <-- the vertical bars might be missing +---+ represents one byte; a box like this: +==============+ | | +==============+ represents a variable number of bytes. A lzip file consists of a series of "members" (compressed data sets). The members simply appear one after another in the file, with no additional information before, between, or after them. Each member has the following structure: +--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | ID string | VN | DS | Lzma stream | CRC32 | Data size | Member size | +--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ All multibyte values are stored in little endian order. `ID string' A four byte string, identifying the member type, with the value "LZIP". `VN (version number, 1 byte)' Just in case something needs to be modified in the future. Valid values are 0 and 1. Version 0 files have only one member and lack `Member size'. `DS (coded dictionary size, 1 byte)' Bits 4-0 contain the base 2 logarithm of the base dictionary size. Bits 7-5 contain the number of "wedges" to substract from the base dictionary size to obtain the dictionary size. The size of a wedge is (base dictionary size / 16). Valid values for dictionary size range from 4KiB to 512MiB. `Lzma stream' The lzma stream, finished by an end of stream marker. Uses default values for encoder properties. `CRC32 (4 bytes)' CRC of the uncompressed original data. `Data size (8 bytes)' Size of the uncompressed original data. `Member size (8 bytes)' Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This facilitates safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember files.  File: lzip.info, Node: Examples, Next: Lzdiff, Prev: File Format, Up: Top 5 A small tutorial with examples ******************************** WARNING! If your data is important, give the `--keep' option to lzip and do not remove the original file until you verify the compressed file with a command like `lzip -cd file.lz | cmp file -'. Example 1: Replace a regular file with its compressed version file.lz and show the compression ratio. lzip -v file Example 2: Like example 1 but the created file.lz is multimember with a member size of 1MiB. lzip -b 1MiB file Example 3: Compress a whole floppy in /dev/fd0 and send the output to file.lz. lzip -c /dev/fd0 > file.lz Example 4: Create a multivolume compressed tar archive with a volume size of 1440KiB. tar -c some_directory | lzip -S 1440KiB -o volume_name Example 5: Extract a multivolume compressed tar archive. lzip -cd volume_name*.lz | tar -xf - Example 6: Create a multivolume compressed backup of a big database file with a volume size of 650MB, where each volume is a multimember file with a member size of 32MiB. lzip -b 32MiB -S 650MB big_database Example 7: Recover the first volume of those created in example 6 from two copies, `big_database1_00001.lz' and `big_database2_00001.lz', with member 00007 damaged in the first copy and member 00018 damaged in the second copy. (Indented lines are lzip error messages). lziprecover big_database1_00001.lz lziprecover big_database2_00001.lz lzip -t rec*big_database1_00001.lz rec00007big_database1_00001.lz: crc mismatch lzip -t rec*big_database2_00001.lz rec00018big_database1_00001.lz: crc mismatch cp rec00007big_database2_00001.lz rec00007big_database1_00001.lz cat rec*big_database1_00001.lz > big_database3_00001.lz  File: lzip.info, Node: Lzdiff, Next: Lzgrep, Prev: Examples, Up: Top 6 Lzdiff ******** Lzdiff is a wrapper script around the diff and cmp commands that allows transparent comparison of any combination of compressed and non-compressed files. If any given file is compressed, its uncompressed content is used. The supported compressors are gzip, bzip2 and lzip. The format for running lzdiff is: lzdiff [OPTIONS] [DIFF_OPTIONS] FILE1 [FILE2] Compares FILE1 to FILE2. If FILE2 is omitted, compares FILE1 to the uncompressed contents of FILE1.[gz|bz2|lz] (depending on the default compressor selected). DIFF_OPTIONS are passed directly to diff or cmp. The exit status from diff or cmp is preserved. Lzdiff supports the following options: `--help' `-h' Print an informative help message describing the options and exit. `--version' `-V' Print the version number of lzdiff on the standard output and exit. `--gzip' Use gzip as default decompressor. `--bzip2' Use bzip2 as default decompressor. `--lzip' Use lzip as default decompressor (default). `--diff' Use diff to compare files (default). `--cmp' Use cmp to compare files. Lzdiff has the limitation that messages from the diff or cmp programs refer to temporary filenames instead of those specified.  File: lzip.info, Node: Lzgrep, Next: Lziprecover, Prev: Lzdiff, Up: Top 7 Lzgrep ******** Lzgrep is a wrapper script around the grep command that allows transparent search on any combination of compressed and non-compressed files. If any given file is compressed, its uncompressed content is used. If a given file does not exist, lzgrep tries the compressed file name corresponding to the default compressor selected. The supported compressors are gzip, bzip2 and lzip. The format for running lzgrep is: lzgrep [OPTIONS] [GREP_OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILES] GREP_OPTIONS are passed directly to grep. The exit status from grep is preserved. Lzgrep supports the following options: `--help' `-h' Print an informative help message describing the options and exit. `--version' `-V' Print the version number of lzgrep on the standard output and exit. `--gzip' Use gzip as default decompressor. `--bzip2' Use bzip2 as default decompressor. `--lzip' Use lzip as default decompressor (default).  File: lzip.info, Node: Lziprecover, Next: Problems, Prev: Lzgrep, Up: Top 8 Lziprecover ************* Lziprecover is a program that searches for members in .lz files, and writes each member in its own .lz file. You can then use `lzip -t' to test the integrity of the resulting files, and decompress those which are undamaged. Lziprecover takes a single argument, the name of the damaged file, and writes a number of files `rec00001file.lz', `rec00002file.lz', etc, containing the extracted members. The output filenames are designed so that the use of wildcards in subsequent processing, for example, `lzip -dc rec*file.lz > recovered_data', processes the files in the correct order.  File: lzip.info, Node: Problems, Next: Concept Index, Prev: Lziprecover, Up: Top 9 Reporting Bugs **************** There are probably bugs in lzip. There are certainly errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer. If you find a bug in lzip, please send electronic mail to . Include the version number, which you can find by running `lzip --version'.  File: lzip.info, Node: Concept Index, Prev: Problems, Up: Top Concept Index ************* [index] * Menu: * algorithm: Algorithm. (line 6) * bugs: Problems. (line 6) * examples: Examples. (line 6) * file format: File Format. (line 6) * getting help: Problems. (line 6) * introduction: Introduction. (line 6) * invoking: Invoking Lzip. (line 6) * lzdiff: Lzdiff. (line 6) * lzgrep: Lzgrep. (line 6) * lziprecover: Lziprecover. (line 6) * options: Invoking Lzip. (line 6) * usage: Invoking Lzip. (line 6) * version: Invoking Lzip. (line 6)  Tag Table: Node: Top224 Node: Introduction961 Node: Algorithm4284 Node: Invoking Lzip6510 Node: File Format10857 Node: Examples12811 Node: Lzdiff14644 Node: Lzgrep15963 Node: Lziprecover16998 Node: Problems17695 Node: Concept Index18220  End Tag Table