Adding upstream version 1.12~rc1.upstream/1.12_rc1

Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>

24 files changed, 876 insertions, 721 deletions

diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
index 4ad17ae..42fe735 100644
--- a/COPYING
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                        Version 2, June 1991
 
- Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
+ Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
  Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
  of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
 
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ed480ff..2608006 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+2024-11-19  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
+
+	* Version 1.12-rc1 released.
+	* decompress.cc (decompress), list.cc (list_files):
+	  Return 2 if any empty member is found in a multimember file.
+	* dec_stdout.cc, dec_stream.cc:
+	  Change 'deliver_packet' to 'deliver_packets'.
+	* plzip.texi: New chapter 'Syntax of command-line arguments'.
+	* check.sh: Use 'cp' instead of 'cat'.
+
 2024-01-21  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
 	* Version 1.11 released.
@@ -20,16 +30,17 @@
 2021-01-03  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
 	* Version 1.9 released.
+	* New option '--check-lib'.
 	* main.cc (main): Report an error if a file name is empty.
+	  (main): Show final diagnostic when testing multiple files.
 	  Make '-o' behave like '-c', but writing to file instead of stdout.
 	  Make '-c' and '-o' check whether the output is a terminal only once.
 	  Do not open output if input is a terminal.
-	* main.cc: New option '--check-lib'.
+	  Set a valid invocation_name even if argc == 0.
 	* Replace 'decompressed', 'compressed' with 'out', 'in' in output.
-	* decompress.cc, dec_stream.cc, dec_stdout.cc:
+	* decompress.cc, dec_stdout.cc, dec_stream.cc:
 	  Continue testing if any input file fails the test.
 	  Show the largest dictionary size in a multimember file.
-	* main.cc: Show final diagnostic when testing multiple files.
 	* decompress.cc, dec_stream.cc [LZ_API_VERSION >= 1012]: Avoid
 	  copying decompressed data when testing with lzlib 1.12 or newer.
 	* compress.cc, dec_stream.cc: Start only the worker threads required.
@@ -38,47 +49,46 @@
 	  Use plain comparison instead of Boyer-Moore to search for headers.
 	* lzip_index.cc: Improve messages for corruption in last header.
 	* decompress.cc: Shorten messages 'Data error' and 'Unexpected EOF'.
-	* main.cc: Set a valid invocation_name even if argc == 0.
 	* Document extraction from tar.lz in manual, '--help', and man page.
 	* plzip.texi (Introduction): Mention tarlz as an alternative.
-	* plzip.texi: Several fixes and improvements.
+	  Several fixes and improvements.
 	* testsuite: Add 8 new test files.
 
 2019-01-05  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
 	* Version 1.8 released.
 	* Rename File_* to Lzip_*.
-	* main.cc: New options '--in-slots' and '--out-slots'.
-	* main.cc: Increase default in_slots per worker from 2 to 4.
-	* main.cc: Increase default out_slots per worker from 32 to 64.
+	* New options '--in-slots' and '--out-slots'.
+	* main.cc (main): Increase default in_slots per worker from 2 to 4.
+	  (main): Increase default out_slots per worker from 32 to 64.
+	  (main): Check return value of close( infd ).
 	* lzip.h (Lzip_trailer): New function 'verify_consistency'.
 	* lzip_index.cc: Detect some kinds of corrupt trailers.
-	* main.cc (main): Check return value of close( infd ).
-	* plzip.texi: Improve description of '-0..-9', '-m', and '-s'.
+	* plzip.texi: Improve descriptions of '-0..-9', '-m', and '-s'.
 	* configure: New option '--with-mingw'.
-	* configure: Accept appending to CXXFLAGS; 'CXXFLAGS+=OPTIONS'.
+	  Accept appending to CXXFLAGS; 'CXXFLAGS+=OPTIONS'.
 	* INSTALL: Document use of CXXFLAGS+='-D __USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO'.
 
 2018-02-07  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
 	* Version 1.7 released.
+	* New option '--loose-trailing'.
 	* compress.cc: Use 'LZ_compress_restart_member' and replace input
 	  packet queue by a circular buffer to reduce memory fragmentation.
-	* compress.cc: Return one empty packet at a time to reduce mem use.
+	  Return one empty packet at a time to reduce memory use.
 	* main.cc: Reduce threads on 32 bit systems to use under 2.22 GiB.
-	* main.cc: New option '--loose-trailing'.
+	  (set_c_outname): Do not add a second '.lz' to the arg of '-o'.
+	  (cleanup_and_fail): Suppress messages from other threads.
 	* Improve corrupt header detection to HD = 3 on seekable files.
 	  (On all files with lzlib 1.10 or newer).
 	* Replace 'bits/byte' with inverse compression ratio in output.
 	* Show progress of decompression at verbosity level 2 (-vv).
 	* Show progress of (de)compression only if stderr is a terminal.
-	* main.cc: Do not add a second .lz extension to the arg of -o.
 	* Show dictionary size at verbosity level 4 (-vvvv).
-	* main.cc (cleanup_and_fail): Suppress messages from other threads.
 	* list.cc: Add missing '#include <pthread.h>'.
-	* plzip.texi: New chapter 'Output'.
-	* plzip.texi (Memory requirements): Add table.
-	* plzip.texi (Program design): Add a block diagram.
+	* plzip.texi: New chapter 'Meaning of plzip's output'.
+	  (Memory requirements): Add table.
+	  (Program design): Add a block diagram.
 
 2017-04-12  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
@@ -92,14 +102,13 @@
 2016-05-14  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
 	* Version 1.5 released.
-	* main.cc: New option '-a, --trailing-error'.
+	* New option '-a, --trailing-error'.
 	* main.cc (main): Delete '--output' file if infd is a terminal.
-	* main.cc (main): Don't use stdin more than once.
+	  (main): Don't use stdin more than once.
 	* plzip.texi: New chapters 'Trailing data' and 'Examples'.
 	* configure: Avoid warning on some shells when testing for g++.
 	* Makefile.in: Detect the existence of install-info.
-	* check.sh: A POSIX shell is required to run the tests.
-	* check.sh: Don't check error messages.
+	* check.sh: Require a POSIX shell. Don't check error messages.
 
 2015-07-09  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <antonio@gnu.org>
 
@@ -136,14 +145,14 @@
 
 	* Version 1.0 released.
 	* compress.cc: Change 'deliver_packet' to 'deliver_packets'.
-	* Scalability of decompression from/to regular files has been
-	  increased by removing splitter and muxer when not needed.
-	* The number of worker threads is now limited to the number of
-	  members when decompressing from a regular file.
+	* Increase scalability of decompression from/to regular files by
+	  removing splitter and muxer when not needed.
+	* Limit the number of worker threads to the number of members when
+	  decompressing from a regular file.
 	* configure: Options now accept a separate argument.
 	* Makefile.in: New targets 'install-as-lzip' and 'install-bin'.
-	* main.cc: Use 'setmode' instead of '_setmode' on Windows and OS/2.
 	* main.cc: Define 'strtoull' to 'std::strtoul' on Windows.
+	  (main): Use 'setmode' instead of '_setmode' on Windows and OS/2.
 
 2012-03-01  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <ant_diaz@teleline.es>
 
@@ -154,13 +163,13 @@
 2012-01-17  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <ant_diaz@teleline.es>
 
 	* Version 0.8 released.
-	* main.cc: New option '-F, --recompress'.
+	* New option '-F, --recompress'.
 	* decompress.cc (decompress): Show compression ratio.
 	* main.cc (close_and_set_permissions): Inability to change output
 	  file attributes has been downgraded from error to warning.
+	  (main): Set stdin/stdout in binary mode on OS2.
 	* Small change in '--help' output and man page.
 	* Change quote characters in messages as advised by GNU Standards.
-	* main.cc: Set stdin/stdout in binary mode on OS2.
 	* compress.cc: Reduce memory use of compressed packets.
 	* decompress.cc: Use Boyer-Moore algorithm to search for headers.
 
@@ -174,7 +183,7 @@
 	* main.cc (open_instream): Don't show the message
 	  " and '--stdout' was not specified" for directories, etc.
 	  Exit with status 1 if any output file exists and is skipped.
-	* main.cc: Fix warning about fchown return value being ignored.
+	  Fix warning about fchown's return value being ignored.
 	* testsuite: Rename 'test1' to 'test.txt'. New tests.
 
 2010-03-20  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <ant_diaz@teleline.es>
@@ -202,9 +211,8 @@
 	* Version 0.3 released.
 	* New option '-B, --data-size'.
 	* Output file is now removed if plzip is interrupted.
-	* This version automatically chooses the smallest possible
-	  dictionary size for each member during compression, saving
-	  memory during decompression.
+	* Choose automatically the smallest possible dictionary size for
+	  each member during compression, saving memory during decompression.
 	* main.cc: New constant 'o_binary'.
 
 2010-01-17  Antonio Diaz Diaz  <ant_diaz@teleline.es>
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index bb3afc0..a5e6fe7 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 DISTNAME = $(pkgname)-$(pkgversion)
 INSTALL = install
 INSTALL_PROGRAM = $(INSTALL) -m 755
-INSTALL_DATA = $(INSTALL) -m 644
 INSTALL_DIR = $(INSTALL) -d -m 755
+INSTALL_DATA = $(INSTALL) -m 644
 SHELL = /bin/sh
 CAN_RUN_INSTALLINFO = $(SHELL) -c "install-info --version" > /dev/null 2>&1
 
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ main.o : main.cc
 
 # prevent 'make' from trying to remake source files
 $(VPATH)/configure $(VPATH)/Makefile.in $(VPATH)/doc/$(pkgname).texi : ;
-%.h %.cc : ;
+MAKEFLAGS += -r
+.SUFFIXES :
 
 $(objs)      : Makefile
 arg_parser.o : arg_parser.h
@@ -133,8 +134,7 @@ dist : doc
 	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/test.txt \
 	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/fox.lz \
 	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/fox_*.lz \
-	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/test.txt.lz \
-	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/test_em.txt.lz
+	  $(DISTNAME)/testsuite/test.txt.lz
 	rm -f $(DISTNAME)
 	lzip -v -9 $(DISTNAME).tar
 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3a2ef98..71f3440 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,14 +1,8 @@
-Changes in version 1.11:
+Changes in version 1.12:
 
-File diagnostics have been reformatted as 'PROGRAM: FILE: MESSAGE'.
+plzip now exits with error status 2 if any empty member is found in a
+multimember file.
 
-Diagnostics caused by invalid arguments to command-line options now show the
-argument and the name of the option.
+Scalability when decompressing to standard output has been increased.
 
-The option '-o, --output' now preserves dates, permissions, and ownership of
-the file when (de)compressing exactly one file.
-
-The option '-o, --output' now creates missing intermediate directories when
-writing to a file.
-
-The variable MAKEINFO has been added to configure and Makefile.in.
+The chapter 'Syntax of command-line arguments' has been added to the manual.
diff --git a/README b/README
index 90d1fc9..fb1aa9d 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,26 +1,26 @@
 Description
 
-Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip,
-compatible with lzip 1.4 or newer. Plzip uses the compression library lzlib.
+Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip. Plzip
+uses the compression library lzlib.
 
 Lzip is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the one
-of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of the 'Lempel-Ziv-Markov
-chain-Algorithm' (LZMA) stream format to maximize interoperability. The
-maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed
-on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3-factor integrity
-checking. Lzip can compress about as fast as gzip (lzip -0) or compress most
-files more than bzip2 (lzip -9). Decompression speed is intermediate between
-gzip and bzip2. Lzip is better than gzip and bzip2 from a data recovery
-perspective. Lzip has been designed, written, and tested with great care to
-replace gzip and bzip2 as the standard general-purpose compressed format for
-Unix-like systems.
+of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov
+chain-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability between
+implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip
+file can be decompressed on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and
+robust 3-factor integrity checking. 'lzip -0' compresses about as fast as
+gzip, while 'lzip -9' compresses most files more than bzip2. Decompression
+speed is intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data
+recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2. Lzip has been designed, written,
+and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general-purpose
+compressed format for Unix-like systems.
 
 Plzip can compress/decompress large files on multiprocessor machines much
 faster than lzip, at the cost of a slightly reduced compression ratio (0.4
 to 2 percent larger compressed files). Note that the number of usable
 threads is limited by file size; on files larger than a few GB plzip can use
-hundreds of processors, but on files of only a few MB plzip is no faster
-than lzip.
+hundreds of processors, but on files smaller than 1 MiB plzip is no faster
+than lzip (even at compression level -0).
 
 For creation and manipulation of compressed tar archives tarlz can be more
 efficient than using tar and plzip because tarlz is able to keep the
diff --git a/arg_parser.cc b/arg_parser.cc
index 0c04d8e..0c528b2 100644
--- a/arg_parser.cc
+++ b/arg_parser.cc
@@ -75,19 +75,19 @@ bool Arg_parser::parse_long_option( const char * const opt, const char * const a
       error_ += "' requires an argument";
       return false;
       }
-    data.back().argument = &opt[len+3];
+    data.back().argument = &opt[len+3];		// argument may be empty
     return true;
     }
 
-  if( options[index].has_arg == yes )
+  if( options[index].has_arg == yes || options[index].has_arg == yme )
     {
-    if( !arg || !arg[0] )
+    if( !arg || ( options[index].has_arg == yes && !arg[0] ) )
       {
       error_ = "option '--"; error_ += options[index].long_name;
       error_ += "' requires an argument";
       return false;
       }
-    ++argind; data.back().argument = arg;
+    ++argind; data.back().argument = arg;	// argument may be empty
     return true;
     }
 
@@ -123,15 +123,16 @@ bool Arg_parser::parse_short_option( const char * const opt, const char * const
       {
       data.back().argument = &opt[cind]; ++argind; cind = 0;
       }
-    else if( options[index].has_arg == yes )
+    else if( options[index].has_arg == yes || options[index].has_arg == yme )
       {
-      if( !arg || !arg[0] )
+      if( !arg || ( options[index].has_arg == yes && !arg[0] ) )
         {
         error_ = "option requires an argument -- '"; error_ += c;
         error_ += '\'';
         return false;
         }
-      data.back().argument = arg; ++argind; cind = 0;
+      ++argind; cind = 0;
+      data.back().argument = arg;	// argument may be empty
       }
     }
   return true;
diff --git a/arg_parser.h b/arg_parser.h
index 1eeec9a..ab77fc5 100644
--- a/arg_parser.h
+++ b/arg_parser.h
@@ -36,14 +36,18 @@
    The argument '--' terminates all options; any following arguments are
    treated as non-option arguments, even if they begin with a hyphen.
 
-   The syntax for optional option arguments is '-<short_option><argument>'
-   (without whitespace), or '--<long_option>=<argument>'.
+   The syntax of options with an optional argument is
+   '-<short_option><argument>' (without whitespace), or
+   '--<long_option>=<argument>'.
+
+   The syntax of options with an empty argument is '-<short_option> ""',
+   '--<long_option> ""', or '--<long_option>=""'.
 */
 
 class Arg_parser
   {
 public:
-  enum Has_arg { no, yes, maybe };
+  enum Has_arg { no, yes, maybe, yme };		// yme = yes but maybe empty
 
   struct Option
     {
diff --git a/compress.cc b/compress.cc
index defa58d..3d7fb54 100644
--- a/compress.cc
+++ b/compress.cc
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ void xlock( pthread_mutex_t * const mutex )
     { show_error( "pthread_mutex_lock", errcode ); cleanup_and_fail(); }
   }
 
-
 void xunlock( pthread_mutex_t * const mutex )
   {
   const int errcode = pthread_mutex_unlock( mutex );
@@ -158,7 +157,7 @@ struct Packet			// data block with a serial number
   int size;			// number of bytes in data (if any)
   unsigned id;			// serial number assigned as received
   Packet() : data( 0 ), size( 0 ), id( 0 ) {}
-  void init( uint8_t * const d, const int s, const unsigned i )
+  void assign( uint8_t * const d, const int s, const unsigned i )
     { data = d; size = s; id = i; }
   };
 
@@ -176,7 +175,7 @@ private:
   unsigned deliver_id;			// id of next packet to be delivered
   Slot_tally slot_tally;		// limits the number of input packets
   std::vector< Packet > circular_ibuffer;
-  std::vector< const Packet * > circular_obuffer;
+  std::vector< const Packet * > circular_obuffer;	// pointers to ibuffer
   int num_working;			// number of workers still running
   const int num_slots;			// max packets in circulation
   pthread_mutex_t imutex;
@@ -212,7 +211,7 @@ public:
     {
     slot_tally.get_slot();		// wait for a free slot
     xlock( &imutex );
-    circular_ibuffer[receive_id % num_slots].init( data, size, receive_id );
+    circular_ibuffer[receive_id % num_slots].assign( data, size, receive_id );
     ++receive_id;
     xsignal( &iav_or_eof );
     xunlock( &imutex );
@@ -221,7 +220,6 @@ public:
   // distribute a packet to a worker
   Packet * distribute_packet()
     {
-    Packet * ipacket = 0;
     xlock( &imutex );
     ++icheck_counter;
     while( receive_id == distrib_id && !eof )	// no packets to distribute
@@ -230,15 +228,13 @@ public:
       xwait( &iav_or_eof, &imutex );
       }
     if( receive_id != distrib_id )
-      { ipacket = &circular_ibuffer[distrib_id % num_slots]; ++distrib_id; }
+      { Packet * ipacket = &circular_ibuffer[distrib_id % num_slots];
+        ++distrib_id; xunlock( &imutex ); return ipacket; }
     xunlock( &imutex );
-    if( !ipacket )				// EOF
-      {
-      xlock( &omutex );		// notify muxer when last worker exits
-      if( --num_working == 0 ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
-      xunlock( &omutex );
-      }
-    return ipacket;
+    xlock( &omutex );		// notify muxer when last worker exits
+    if( --num_working == 0 ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
+    xunlock( &omutex );
+    return 0;			// EOF
     }
 
   // collect a packet from a worker
@@ -307,30 +303,38 @@ public:
 
 struct Worker_arg
   {
-  Packet_courier * courier;
-  const Pretty_print * pp;
-  int dictionary_size;
-  int match_len_limit;
-  int offset;
+  Packet_courier & courier;
+  const Pretty_print & pp;
+  const int dictionary_size;
+  const int match_len_limit;
+  const int offset;
+  Worker_arg( Packet_courier & co, const Pretty_print & pp_, const int dis,
+              const int mll, const int off )
+    : courier( co ), pp( pp_ ), dictionary_size( dis ),
+      match_len_limit( mll ), offset( off ) {}
   };
 
 struct Splitter_arg
   {
-  struct Worker_arg worker_arg;
-  pthread_t * worker_threads;
-  int infd;
-  int data_size;
+  Worker_arg worker_arg;
+  pthread_t * const worker_threads;
+  const int data_size;
+  const int infd;
   int num_workers;		// returned by splitter to main thread
+  Splitter_arg( Packet_courier & co, const Pretty_print & pp_, const int dis,
+                const int mll, const int off, pthread_t * wt, const int das,
+                const int ifd, const int nw )
+    : worker_arg( co, pp_, dis, mll, off ), worker_threads( wt ),
+      data_size( das ), infd( ifd ), num_workers( nw ) {}
   };
 
 
-/* Get packets from courier, replace their contents, and return them to
-   courier. */
+// get packets from courier, replace their contents, and return them to courier
 extern "C" void * cworker( void * arg )
   {
   const Worker_arg & tmp = *(const Worker_arg *)arg;
-  Packet_courier & courier = *tmp.courier;
-  const Pretty_print & pp = *tmp.pp;
+  Packet_courier & courier = tmp.courier;
+  const Pretty_print & pp = tmp.pp;
   const int dictionary_size = tmp.dictionary_size;
   const int match_len_limit = tmp.match_len_limit;
   const int offset = tmp.offset;
@@ -407,8 +411,8 @@ extern "C" void * cworker( void * arg )
 extern "C" void * csplitter( void * arg )
   {
   Splitter_arg & tmp = *(Splitter_arg *)arg;
-  Packet_courier & courier = *tmp.worker_arg.courier;
-  const Pretty_print & pp = *tmp.worker_arg.pp;
+  Packet_courier & courier = tmp.worker_arg.courier;
+  const Pretty_print & pp = tmp.worker_arg.pp;
   pthread_t * const worker_threads = tmp.worker_threads;
   const int offset = tmp.worker_arg.offset;
   const int infd = tmp.infd;
@@ -436,11 +440,7 @@ extern "C" void * csplitter( void * arg )
         }
       if( size < data_size ) break;	// EOF
       }
-    else
-      {
-      delete[] data;
-      break;
-      }
+    else { delete[] data; break; }
     }
   courier.finish( tmp.num_workers - i );	// no more packets to send
   tmp.num_workers = i;
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ void muxer( Packet_courier & courier, const Pretty_print & pp, const int outfd )
       out_size += opacket->size;
 
       if( writeblock( outfd, opacket->data, opacket->size ) != opacket->size )
-        { pp(); show_error( "Write error", errno ); cleanup_and_fail(); }
+        { pp(); show_error( write_error_msg, errno ); cleanup_and_fail(); }
       delete[] opacket->data;
       courier.return_empty_packet();
       }
@@ -475,8 +475,7 @@ void muxer( Packet_courier & courier, const Pretty_print & pp, const int outfd )
 } // end namespace
 
 
-/* Init the courier, then start the splitter and the workers and call the
-   muxer. */
+// init the courier, then start the splitter and the workers and call the muxer
 int compress( const unsigned long long cfile_size,
               const int data_size, const int dictionary_size,
               const int match_len_limit, const int num_workers,
@@ -496,16 +495,8 @@ int compress( const unsigned long long cfile_size,
   pthread_t * worker_threads = new( std::nothrow ) pthread_t[num_workers];
   if( !worker_threads ) { pp( mem_msg ); return 1; }
 
-  Splitter_arg splitter_arg;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.courier = &courier;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.pp = &pp;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.dictionary_size = dictionary_size;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.match_len_limit = match_len_limit;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.offset = offset;
-  splitter_arg.worker_threads = worker_threads;
-  splitter_arg.infd = infd;
-  splitter_arg.data_size = data_size;
-  splitter_arg.num_workers = num_workers;
+  Splitter_arg splitter_arg( courier, pp, dictionary_size, match_len_limit,
+               offset, worker_threads, data_size, infd, num_workers );
 
   pthread_t splitter_thread;
   int errcode = pthread_create( &splitter_thread, 0, csplitter, &splitter_arg );
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4e627d5..7174b8f 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # to copy, distribute, and modify it.
 
 pkgname=plzip
-pkgversion=1.11
+pkgversion=1.12-rc1
 progname=plzip
 with_mingw=
 srctrigger=doc/${pkgname}.texi
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ while [ $# != 0 ] ; do
 		exit 1 ;;
 	esac
 
-	# Check if the option took a separate argument
+	# Check whether the option took a separate argument
 	if [ "${arg2}" = yes ] ; then
 		if [ $# != 0 ] ; then args="${args} \"$1\"" ; shift
 		else echo "configure: Missing argument to '${option}'" 1>&2
diff --git a/dec_stdout.cc b/dec_stdout.cc
index 6ffed07..d32f7a8 100644
--- a/dec_stdout.cc
+++ b/dec_stdout.cc
@@ -46,10 +46,10 @@ struct Packet			// data block
   uint8_t * data;		// data may be null if size == 0
   int size;			// number of bytes in data (if any)
   bool eom;			// end of member
-  Packet() : data( 0 ), size( 0 ), eom( true ) {}
+  Packet() : data( 0 ), size( 0 ), eom( false ) {}
   Packet( uint8_t * const d, const int s, const bool e )
     : data( d ), size( s ), eom ( e ) {}
-  ~Packet() { if( data ) delete[] data; }
+  void delete_data() { if( data ) { delete[] data; data = 0; } }
   };
 
 
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ public:
   unsigned ocheck_counter;
   unsigned owait_counter;
 private:
-  int deliver_worker_id;	// worker queue currently delivering packets
-  std::vector< std::queue< const Packet * > > opacket_queues;
+  int deliver_id;		// worker queue currently delivering packets
+  std::vector< std::queue< Packet > > opacket_queues;
   int num_working;			// number of workers still running
   const int num_workers;		// number of workers
   const unsigned out_slots;		// max output packets per queue
@@ -75,10 +75,9 @@ private:
 public:
   Packet_courier( const Shared_retval & sh_ret, const int workers,
                   const int slots )
-    : ocheck_counter( 0 ), owait_counter( 0 ), deliver_worker_id( 0 ),
-      opacket_queues( workers ), num_working( workers ),
-      num_workers( workers ), out_slots( slots ), slot_av( workers ),
-      shared_retval( sh_ret )
+    : ocheck_counter( 0 ), owait_counter( 0 ), deliver_id( 0 ),
+      opacket_queues( workers ), num_working( workers ), num_workers( workers ),
+      out_slots( slots ), slot_av( workers ), shared_retval( sh_ret )
     {
     xinit_mutex( &omutex ); xinit_cond( &oav_or_exit );
     for( unsigned i = 0; i < slot_av.size(); ++i ) xinit_cond( &slot_av[i] );
@@ -89,7 +88,7 @@ public:
     if( shared_retval() )		// cleanup to avoid memory leaks
       for( int i = 0; i < num_workers; ++i )
         while( !opacket_queues[i].empty() )
-          { delete opacket_queues[i].front(); opacket_queues[i].pop(); }
+          { opacket_queues[i].front().delete_data(); opacket_queues[i].pop(); }
     for( unsigned i = 0; i < slot_av.size(); ++i ) xdestroy_cond( &slot_av[i] );
     xdestroy_cond( &oav_or_exit ); xdestroy_mutex( &omutex );
     }
@@ -102,49 +101,47 @@ public:
     xunlock( &omutex );
     }
 
-  // collect a packet from a worker, discard packet on error
-  void collect_packet( const Packet * const opacket, const int worker_id )
+  // make a packet with data received from a worker, discard data on error
+  void collect_packet( const int worker_id, uint8_t * const data,
+                       const int size, const bool eom )
     {
+    Packet opacket( data, size, eom );
     xlock( &omutex );
-    if( opacket->data )
+    if( data )
       while( opacket_queues[worker_id].size() >= out_slots )
         {
-        if( shared_retval() ) { delete opacket; goto done; }
+        if( shared_retval() ) { delete[] data; goto out; }
         xwait( &slot_av[worker_id], &omutex );
         }
     opacket_queues[worker_id].push( opacket );
-    if( worker_id == deliver_worker_id ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
-done:
-    xunlock( &omutex );
+    if( worker_id == deliver_id ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
+out: xunlock( &omutex );
     }
 
-  /* deliver a packet to muxer
-     if packet->eom, move to next queue
-     if packet data == 0, wait again */
-  const Packet * deliver_packet()
+  /* deliver packets to muxer
+     if opacket.eom, move to next queue
+     if opacket.data == 0, skip opacket */
+  void deliver_packets( std::vector< Packet > & packet_vector )
     {
-    const Packet * opacket = 0;
+    packet_vector.clear();
     xlock( &omutex );
     ++ocheck_counter;
-    while( true )
-      {
-      while( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].empty() && num_working > 0 )
+    do {
+      while( opacket_queues[deliver_id].empty() && num_working > 0 )
+        { ++owait_counter; xwait( &oav_or_exit, &omutex ); }
+      while( true )
         {
-        ++owait_counter;
-        xwait( &oav_or_exit, &omutex );
+        if( opacket_queues[deliver_id].empty() ) break;
+        Packet opacket = opacket_queues[deliver_id].front();
+        opacket_queues[deliver_id].pop();
+        if( opacket_queues[deliver_id].size() + 1 == out_slots )
+          xsignal( &slot_av[deliver_id] );
+        if( opacket.eom && ++deliver_id >= num_workers ) deliver_id = 0;
+        if( opacket.data ) packet_vector.push_back( opacket );
         }
-      if( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].empty() ) break;
-      opacket = opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].front();
-      opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].pop();
-      if( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].size() + 1 == out_slots )
-        xsignal( &slot_av[deliver_worker_id] );
-      if( opacket->eom && ++deliver_worker_id >= num_workers )
-        deliver_worker_id = 0;
-      if( opacket->data ) break;
-      delete opacket; opacket = 0;
       }
+    while( packet_vector.empty() && num_working > 0 );
     xunlock( &omutex );
-    return opacket;
     }
 
   bool finished()		// all packets delivered to muxer
@@ -163,9 +160,14 @@ struct Worker_arg
   Packet_courier * courier;
   const Pretty_print * pp;
   Shared_retval * shared_retval;
-  int worker_id;
-  int num_workers;
   int infd;
+  int num_workers;
+  int worker_id;
+  void assign( const Lzip_index & li, Packet_courier & co,
+               const Pretty_print & pp_, Shared_retval & sr,
+               const int ifd, const int nw, const int wi )
+    { lzip_index = &li; courier = &co; pp = &pp_; shared_retval = &sr;
+      infd = ifd; num_workers = nw; worker_id = wi; }
   };
 
 
@@ -179,9 +181,9 @@ extern "C" void * dworker_o( void * arg )
   Packet_courier & courier = *tmp.courier;
   const Pretty_print & pp = *tmp.pp;
   Shared_retval & shared_retval = *tmp.shared_retval;
-  const int worker_id = tmp.worker_id;
-  const int num_workers = tmp.num_workers;
   const int infd = tmp.infd;
+  const int num_workers = tmp.num_workers;
+  const int worker_id = tmp.worker_id;
   const int buffer_size = 65536;
 
   int new_pos = 0;
@@ -231,12 +233,11 @@ extern "C" void * dworker_o( void * arg )
         const bool eom = LZ_decompress_finished( decoder ) == 1;
         if( new_pos == max_packet_size || eom )		// make data packet
           {
-          const Packet * const opacket =
-            new Packet( ( new_pos > 0 ) ? new_data : 0, new_pos, eom );
-          courier.collect_packet( opacket, worker_id );
+          courier.collect_packet( worker_id, ( new_pos > 0 ) ? new_data : 0,
+                                  new_pos, eom );
           if( new_pos > 0 ) { new_pos = 0; new_data = 0; }
           if( eom )
-            { LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for new member
+            { LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for next member
               break; }
           }
         if( rd == 0 ) break;
@@ -262,23 +263,28 @@ done:
 void muxer( Packet_courier & courier, const Pretty_print & pp,
             Shared_retval & shared_retval, const int outfd )
   {
+  std::vector< Packet > packet_vector;
   while( true )
     {
-    const Packet * const opacket = courier.deliver_packet();
-    if( !opacket ) break;	// queue is empty. all workers exited
-
-    if( shared_retval() == 0 &&
-        writeblock( outfd, opacket->data, opacket->size ) != opacket->size &&
-        shared_retval.set_value( 1 ) )
-      { pp(); show_error( "Write error", errno ); }
-    delete opacket;
+    courier.deliver_packets( packet_vector );
+    if( packet_vector.empty() ) break;	// queue is empty. all workers exited
+
+    for( unsigned i = 0; i < packet_vector.size(); ++i )
+      {
+      Packet & opacket = packet_vector[i];
+      if( shared_retval() == 0 &&
+          writeblock( outfd, opacket.data, opacket.size ) != opacket.size &&
+          shared_retval.set_value( 1 ) )
+        { pp(); show_error( write_error_msg, errno ); }
+      opacket.delete_data();
+      }
     }
   }
 
 } // end namespace
 
 
-// init the courier, then start the workers and call the muxer.
+// init the courier, then start the workers and call the muxer
 int dec_stdout( const int num_workers, const int infd, const int outfd,
                 const Pretty_print & pp, const int debug_level,
                 const int out_slots, const Lzip_index & lzip_index )
@@ -294,13 +300,8 @@ int dec_stdout( const int num_workers, const int infd, const int outfd,
   int i = 0;				// number of workers started
   for( ; i < num_workers; ++i )
     {
-    worker_args[i].lzip_index = &lzip_index;
-    worker_args[i].courier = &courier;
-    worker_args[i].pp = &pp;
-    worker_args[i].shared_retval = &shared_retval;
-    worker_args[i].worker_id = i;
-    worker_args[i].num_workers = num_workers;
-    worker_args[i].infd = infd;
+    worker_args[i].assign( lzip_index, courier, pp, shared_retval, infd,
+                           num_workers, i );
     const int errcode =
       pthread_create( &worker_threads[i], 0, dworker_o, &worker_args[i] );
     if( errcode )
diff --git a/dec_stream.cc b/dec_stream.cc
index 6ea4ed7..4a0de60 100644
--- a/dec_stream.cc
+++ b/dec_stream.cc
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@ struct Packet			// data block
   uint8_t * data;		// data may be null if size == 0
   int size;			// number of bytes in data (if any)
   bool eom;			// end of member
-  Packet() : data( 0 ), size( 0 ), eom( true ) {}
+  Packet() : data( 0 ), size( 0 ), eom( false ) {}
   Packet( uint8_t * const d, const int s, const bool e )
     : data( d ), size( s ), eom ( e ) {}
-  ~Packet() { if( data ) delete[] data; }
+  void delete_data() { if( data ) { delete[] data; data = 0; } }
   };
 
 
@@ -69,11 +69,11 @@ public:
   unsigned ocheck_counter;
   unsigned owait_counter;
 private:
-  int receive_worker_id;	// worker queue currently receiving packets
-  int deliver_worker_id;	// worker queue currently delivering packets
+  int receive_id;		// worker queue currently receiving packets
+  int deliver_id;		// worker queue currently delivering packets
   Slot_tally slot_tally;		// limits the number of input packets
-  std::vector< std::queue< const Packet * > > ipacket_queues;
-  std::vector< std::queue< const Packet * > > opacket_queues;
+  std::vector< std::queue< Packet > > ipacket_queues;
+  std::vector< std::queue< Packet > > opacket_queues;
   int num_working;			// number of workers still running
   const int num_workers;		// number of workers
   const unsigned out_slots;		// max output packets per queue
@@ -94,11 +94,11 @@ public:
                   const int in_slots, const int oslots )
     : icheck_counter( 0 ), iwait_counter( 0 ),
       ocheck_counter( 0 ), owait_counter( 0 ),
-      receive_worker_id( 0 ), deliver_worker_id( 0 ),
-      slot_tally( in_slots ), ipacket_queues( workers ),
-      opacket_queues( workers ), num_working( workers ),
-      num_workers( workers ), out_slots( oslots ), slot_av( workers ),
-      shared_retval( sh_ret ), eof( false ), trailing_data_found_( false )
+      receive_id( 0 ), deliver_id( 0 ), slot_tally( in_slots ),
+      ipacket_queues( workers ), opacket_queues( workers ),
+      num_working( workers ), num_workers( workers ),
+      out_slots( oslots ), slot_av( workers ), shared_retval( sh_ret ),
+      eof( false ), trailing_data_found_( false )
     {
     xinit_mutex( &imutex ); xinit_cond( &iav_or_eof );
     xinit_mutex( &omutex ); xinit_cond( &oav_or_exit );
@@ -111,9 +111,9 @@ public:
       for( int i = 0; i < num_workers; ++i )
         {
         while( !ipacket_queues[i].empty() )
-          { delete ipacket_queues[i].front(); ipacket_queues[i].pop(); }
+          { ipacket_queues[i].front().delete_data(); ipacket_queues[i].pop(); }
         while( !opacket_queues[i].empty() )
-          { delete opacket_queues[i].front(); opacket_queues[i].pop(); }
+          { opacket_queues[i].front().delete_data(); opacket_queues[i].pop(); }
         }
     for( unsigned i = 0; i < slot_av.size(); ++i ) xdestroy_cond( &slot_av[i] );
     xdestroy_cond( &oav_or_exit ); xdestroy_mutex( &omutex );
@@ -125,19 +125,18 @@ public:
   void receive_packet( uint8_t * const data, const int size, const bool eom )
     {
     if( shared_retval() ) { delete[] data; return; } // discard packet on error
-    const Packet * const ipacket = new Packet( data, size, eom );
+    const Packet ipacket( data, size, eom );
     slot_tally.get_slot();			// wait for a free slot
     xlock( &imutex );
-    ipacket_queues[receive_worker_id].push( ipacket );
+    ipacket_queues[receive_id].push( ipacket );
     xbroadcast( &iav_or_eof );
     xunlock( &imutex );
-    if( eom && ++receive_worker_id >= num_workers ) receive_worker_id = 0;
+    if( eom && ++receive_id >= num_workers ) receive_id = 0;
     }
 
   // distribute a packet to a worker
-  const Packet * distribute_packet( const int worker_id )
+  Packet distribute_packet( const int worker_id )
     {
-    const Packet * ipacket = 0;
     xlock( &imutex );
     ++icheck_counter;
     while( ipacket_queues[worker_id].empty() && !eof )
@@ -147,63 +146,58 @@ public:
       }
     if( !ipacket_queues[worker_id].empty() )
       {
-      ipacket = ipacket_queues[worker_id].front();
+      const Packet ipacket = ipacket_queues[worker_id].front();
       ipacket_queues[worker_id].pop();
+      xunlock( &imutex ); slot_tally.leave_slot(); return ipacket;
       }
-    xunlock( &imutex );
-    if( ipacket ) slot_tally.leave_slot();
-    else			// no more packets
-      {
-      xlock( &omutex );		// notify muxer when last worker exits
-      if( --num_working == 0 ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
-      xunlock( &omutex );
-      }
-    return ipacket;
+    xunlock( &imutex );		// no more packets
+    xlock( &omutex );		// notify muxer when last worker exits
+    if( --num_working == 0 ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
+    xunlock( &omutex );
+    return Packet();
     }
 
-  // collect a packet from a worker, discard packet on error
-  void collect_packet( const Packet * const opacket, const int worker_id )
+  // make a packet with data received from a worker, discard data on error
+  void collect_packet( const int worker_id, uint8_t * const data,
+                       const int size, const bool eom )
     {
+    Packet opacket( data, size, eom );
     xlock( &omutex );
-    if( opacket->data )
+    if( data )
       while( opacket_queues[worker_id].size() >= out_slots )
         {
-        if( shared_retval() ) { delete opacket; goto done; }
+        if( shared_retval() ) { delete[] data; goto out; }
         xwait( &slot_av[worker_id], &omutex );
         }
     opacket_queues[worker_id].push( opacket );
-    if( worker_id == deliver_worker_id ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
-done:
-    xunlock( &omutex );
+    if( worker_id == deliver_id ) xsignal( &oav_or_exit );
+out: xunlock( &omutex );
     }
 
-  /* deliver a packet to muxer
-     if packet->eom, move to next queue
-     if packet data == 0, wait again */
-  const Packet * deliver_packet()
+  /* deliver packets to muxer
+     if opacket.eom, move to next queue
+     if opacket.data == 0, skip opacket */
+  void deliver_packets( std::vector< Packet > & packet_vector )
     {
-    const Packet * opacket = 0;
+    packet_vector.clear();
     xlock( &omutex );
     ++ocheck_counter;
-    while( true )
-      {
-      while( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].empty() && num_working > 0 )
+    do {
+      while( opacket_queues[deliver_id].empty() && num_working > 0 )
+        { ++owait_counter; xwait( &oav_or_exit, &omutex ); }
+      while( true )
         {
-        ++owait_counter;
-        xwait( &oav_or_exit, &omutex );
+        if( opacket_queues[deliver_id].empty() ) break;
+        Packet opacket = opacket_queues[deliver_id].front();
+        opacket_queues[deliver_id].pop();
+        if( opacket_queues[deliver_id].size() + 1 == out_slots )
+          xsignal( &slot_av[deliver_id] );
+        if( opacket.eom && ++deliver_id >= num_workers ) deliver_id = 0;
+        if( opacket.data ) packet_vector.push_back( opacket );
         }
-      if( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].empty() ) break;
-      opacket = opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].front();
-      opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].pop();
-      if( opacket_queues[deliver_worker_id].size() + 1 == out_slots )
-        xsignal( &slot_av[deliver_worker_id] );
-      if( opacket->eom && ++deliver_worker_id >= num_workers )
-        deliver_worker_id = 0;
-      if( opacket->data ) break;
-      delete opacket; opacket = 0;
       }
+    while( packet_vector.empty() && num_working > 0 );
     xunlock( &omutex );
-    return opacket;
     }
 
   void add_sizes( const unsigned long long partial_in_size,
@@ -252,17 +246,29 @@ struct Worker_arg
   bool loose_trailing;
   bool testing;
   bool nocopy;		// avoid copying decompressed data when testing
+  void assign( Packet_courier & co, const Pretty_print & pp_,
+               Shared_retval & sr, const bool it, const bool lt,
+               const bool t, const bool nc )
+    { courier = &co; pp = &pp_; shared_retval = &sr; worker_id = 0;
+      ignore_trailing = it; loose_trailing = lt; testing = t; nocopy = nc; }
   };
 
 struct Splitter_arg
   {
-  struct Worker_arg worker_arg;
-  Worker_arg * worker_args;
-  pthread_t * worker_threads;
-  unsigned long long cfile_size;
-  int infd;
+  Worker_arg worker_arg;
+  Worker_arg * const worker_args;
+  pthread_t * const worker_threads;
+  const unsigned long long cfile_size;
+  const int infd;
   unsigned dictionary_size;	// returned by splitter to main thread
   int num_workers;		// returned by splitter to main thread
+  Splitter_arg( Packet_courier & co, const Pretty_print & pp_,
+                Shared_retval & sr, const bool it, const bool lt,
+                const bool t, const bool nc, Worker_arg * wa, pthread_t * wt,
+                const unsigned long long cfs, const int ifd, const int nw )
+    : worker_args( wa ), worker_threads( wt ), cfile_size( cfs ),
+      infd( ifd ), dictionary_size( 0 ), num_workers( nw )
+    { worker_arg.assign( co, pp_, sr, it, lt, t, nc ); }
   };
 
 
@@ -291,22 +297,22 @@ extern "C" void * dworker_s( void * arg )
 
   while( true )
     {
-    const Packet * const ipacket = courier.distribute_packet( worker_id );
-    if( !ipacket ) break;		// no more packets to process
+    Packet ipacket = courier.distribute_packet( worker_id );
+    if( !ipacket.data ) break;		// no more packets to process
 
     int written = 0;
     while( !draining )		// else discard trailing data or drain queue
       {
-      if( LZ_decompress_write_size( decoder ) > 0 && written < ipacket->size )
+      if( LZ_decompress_write_size( decoder ) > 0 && written < ipacket.size )
         {
-        const int wr = LZ_decompress_write( decoder, ipacket->data + written,
-                                            ipacket->size - written );
+        const int wr = LZ_decompress_write( decoder, ipacket.data + written,
+                                            ipacket.size - written );
         if( wr < 0 ) internal_error( "library error (LZ_decompress_write)." );
         written += wr;
-        if( written > ipacket->size )
+        if( written > ipacket.size )
           internal_error( "ipacket size exceeded in worker." );
         }
-      if( ipacket->eom && written == ipacket->size )
+      if( ipacket.eom && written == ipacket.size )
         LZ_decompress_finish( decoder );
       unsigned long long total_in = 0;	// detect empty member + corrupt header
       while( !draining )		// read and pack decompressed data
@@ -353,14 +359,13 @@ extern "C" void * dworker_s( void * arg )
           {
           if( !testing )			// make data packet
             {
-            const Packet * const opacket =
-              new Packet( ( new_pos > 0 ) ? new_data : 0, new_pos, eom );
-            courier.collect_packet( opacket, worker_id );
+            courier.collect_packet( worker_id, ( new_pos > 0 ) ? new_data : 0,
+                                    new_pos, eom );
             if( new_pos > 0 ) new_data = 0;
             }
           new_pos = 0;
           if( eom )
-            { LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for new member
+            { LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for next member
               break; }
           }
         if( rd == 0 )
@@ -369,9 +374,9 @@ extern "C" void * dworker_s( void * arg )
           if( total_in == size ) break; else total_in = size;
           }
         }
-      if( !ipacket->data || written == ipacket->size ) break;
+      if( !ipacket.data || written == ipacket.size ) break;
       }
-    delete ipacket;
+    ipacket.delete_data();
     }
 
   if( new_data ) delete[] new_data;
@@ -404,7 +409,7 @@ bool start_worker( const Worker_arg & worker_arg,
    packaging and distribution to workers.
    Start a worker per member up to a maximum of num_workers.
 */
-extern "C" void * dsplitter_s( void * arg )
+extern "C" void * dsplitter( void * arg )
   {
   Splitter_arg & tmp = *(Splitter_arg *)arg;
   const Worker_arg & worker_arg = tmp.worker_arg;
@@ -546,16 +551,21 @@ fail:
 void muxer( Packet_courier & courier, const Pretty_print & pp,
             Shared_retval & shared_retval, const int outfd )
   {
+  std::vector< Packet > packet_vector;
   while( true )
     {
-    const Packet * const opacket = courier.deliver_packet();
-    if( !opacket ) break;	// queue is empty. all workers exited
-
-    if( shared_retval() == 0 &&
-        writeblock( outfd, opacket->data, opacket->size ) != opacket->size &&
-        shared_retval.set_value( 1 ) )
-      { pp(); show_error( "Write error", errno ); }
-    delete opacket;
+    courier.deliver_packets( packet_vector );
+    if( packet_vector.empty() ) break;	// queue is empty. all workers exited
+
+    for( unsigned i = 0; i < packet_vector.size(); ++i )
+      {
+      Packet & opacket = packet_vector[i];
+      if( shared_retval() == 0 &&
+          writeblock( outfd, opacket.data, opacket.size ) != opacket.size &&
+          shared_retval.set_value( 1 ) )
+        { pp(); show_error( write_error_msg, errno ); }
+      opacket.delete_data();
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -590,23 +600,12 @@ int dec_stream( const unsigned long long cfile_size, const int num_workers,
   const bool nocopy = false;
 #endif
 
-  Splitter_arg splitter_arg;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.courier = &courier;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.pp = &pp;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.shared_retval = &shared_retval;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.worker_id = 0;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.ignore_trailing = cl_opts.ignore_trailing;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.loose_trailing = cl_opts.loose_trailing;
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.testing = ( outfd < 0 );
-  splitter_arg.worker_arg.nocopy = nocopy;
-  splitter_arg.worker_args = worker_args;
-  splitter_arg.worker_threads = worker_threads;
-  splitter_arg.cfile_size = cfile_size;
-  splitter_arg.infd = infd;
-  splitter_arg.num_workers = num_workers;
+  Splitter_arg splitter_arg( courier, pp, shared_retval,
+    cl_opts.ignore_trailing, cl_opts.loose_trailing, outfd < 0, nocopy,
+    worker_args, worker_threads, cfile_size, infd, num_workers );
 
   pthread_t splitter_thread;
-  int errcode = pthread_create( &splitter_thread, 0, dsplitter_s, &splitter_arg );
+  int errcode = pthread_create( &splitter_thread, 0, dsplitter, &splitter_arg );
   if( errcode )
     { show_error( "Can't create splitter thread", errcode );
       delete[] worker_threads; delete[] worker_args; return 1; }
diff --git a/decompress.cc b/decompress.cc
index 5b0e68f..f447acb 100644
--- a/decompress.cc
+++ b/decompress.cc
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ int pwriteblock( const int fd, const uint8_t * const buf, const int size,
   }
 
 
-void decompress_error( struct LZ_Decoder * const decoder,
+void decompress_error( LZ_Decoder * const decoder,
                        const Pretty_print & pp,
                        Shared_retval & shared_retval, const int worker_id )
   {
@@ -158,11 +158,16 @@ struct Worker_arg
   const Lzip_index * lzip_index;
   const Pretty_print * pp;
   Shared_retval * shared_retval;
-  int worker_id;
-  int num_workers;
   int infd;
+  int num_workers;
   int outfd;
+  int worker_id;
   bool nocopy;		// avoid copying decompressed data when testing
+  void assign( const Lzip_index & li, const Pretty_print & pp_,
+               Shared_retval & sr, const int ifd, const int nw,
+               const int ofd, const int wi, const bool nc )
+    { lzip_index = &li; pp = &pp_; shared_retval = &sr; infd = ifd;
+      num_workers = nw; outfd = ofd; worker_id = wi; nocopy = nc; }
   };
 
 
@@ -243,7 +248,7 @@ extern "C" void * dworker( void * arg )
           {
           if( data_rest != 0 )
             internal_error( "final data_rest is not zero." );
-          LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for new member
+          LZ_decompress_reset( decoder );	// prepare for next member
           break;
           }
         if( rd == 0 ) break;
@@ -264,11 +269,11 @@ done:
 } // end namespace
 
 
-// start the workers and wait for them to finish.
+// start the workers and wait for them to finish
 int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
                 const int infd, const int outfd, const Cl_options & cl_opts,
                 const Pretty_print & pp, const int debug_level,
-                const int in_slots, const int out_slots,
+                const int in_slots, const int out_slots, const bool from_stdin,
                 const bool infd_isreg, const bool one_to_one )
   {
   if( !infd_isreg )
@@ -284,11 +289,11 @@ int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
     }
   if( lzip_index.retval() != 0 )	// corrupt or invalid input file
     {
-    if( lzip_index.bad_magic() )
-      show_file_error( pp.name(), lzip_index.error().c_str() );
-    else pp( lzip_index.error().c_str() );
+    if( lzip_index.good_magic() ) pp( lzip_index.error().c_str() );
+    else show_file_error( pp.name(), lzip_index.error().c_str() );
     return lzip_index.retval();
     }
+  const bool multi_empty = !from_stdin && lzip_index.multi_empty();
 
   if( num_workers > lzip_index.members() ) num_workers = lzip_index.members();
 
@@ -301,8 +306,11 @@ int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
       if( debug_level & 2 ) std::fputs( "decompress file to stdout.\n", stderr );
       if( verbosity >= 1 ) pp();
       show_progress( 0, cfile_size, &pp );			// init
-      return dec_stdout( num_workers, infd, outfd, pp, debug_level, out_slots,
-                         lzip_index );
+      const int tmp = dec_stdout( num_workers, infd, outfd, pp, debug_level,
+                                  out_slots, lzip_index );
+      if( tmp ) return tmp;
+      if( multi_empty ) { show_file_error( pp.name(), empty_msg ); return 2; }
+      return 0;
       }
     }
 
@@ -325,14 +333,8 @@ int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
   int i = 0;				// number of workers started
   for( ; i < num_workers; ++i )
     {
-    worker_args[i].lzip_index = &lzip_index;
-    worker_args[i].pp = &pp;
-    worker_args[i].shared_retval = &shared_retval;
-    worker_args[i].worker_id = i;
-    worker_args[i].num_workers = num_workers;
-    worker_args[i].infd = infd;
-    worker_args[i].outfd = outfd;
-    worker_args[i].nocopy = nocopy;
+    worker_args[i].assign( lzip_index, pp, shared_retval, infd, num_workers,
+                           outfd, i, nocopy );
     const int errcode =
       pthread_create( &worker_threads[i], 0, dworker, &worker_args[i] );
     if( errcode )
@@ -359,5 +361,6 @@ int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
     std::fprintf( stderr,
       "workers started                           %8u\n", num_workers );
 
+  if( multi_empty ) { show_file_error( pp.name(), empty_msg ); return 2; }
   return 0;
   }
diff --git a/doc/plzip.1 b/doc/plzip.1
index 3985e5b..7f16c55 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.1
+++ b/doc/plzip.1
@@ -1,32 +1,33 @@
 .\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.49.2.
-.TH PLZIP "1" "January 2024" "plzip 1.11" "User Commands"
+.TH PLZIP "1" "November 2024" "plzip 1.12-rc1" "User Commands"
 .SH NAME
 plzip \- reduces the size of files
 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .B plzip
 [\fI\,options\/\fR] [\fI\,files\/\fR]
 .SH DESCRIPTION
-Plzip is a massively parallel (multi\-threaded) implementation of lzip,
-compatible with lzip 1.4 or newer. Plzip uses the compression library lzlib.
+Plzip is a massively parallel (multi\-threaded) implementation of lzip. Plzip
+uses the compression library lzlib.
 .PP
 Lzip is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the one
-of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of the 'Lempel\-Ziv\-Markov
-chain\-Algorithm' (LZMA) stream format to maximize interoperability. The
-maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed
-on 32\-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3\-factor integrity
-checking. Lzip can compress about as fast as gzip (lzip \fB\-0\fR) or compress most
-files more than bzip2 (lzip \fB\-9\fR). Decompression speed is intermediate between
-gzip and bzip2. Lzip is better than gzip and bzip2 from a data recovery
-perspective. Lzip has been designed, written, and tested with great care to
-replace gzip and bzip2 as the standard general\-purpose compressed format for
-Unix\-like systems.
+of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of LZMA (Lempel\-Ziv\-Markov
+chain\-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability between
+implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip
+file can be decompressed on 32\-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and
+robust 3\-factor integrity checking. 'lzip \fB\-0\fR' compresses about as fast as
+gzip, while 'lzip \fB\-9\fR' compresses most files more than bzip2. Decompression
+speed is intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data
+recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2. Lzip has been designed, written,
+and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general\-purpose
+compressed format for Unix\-like systems.
 .PP
 Plzip can compress/decompress large files on multiprocessor machines much
 faster than lzip, at the cost of a slightly reduced compression ratio (0.4
 to 2 percent larger compressed files). Note that the number of usable
 threads is limited by file size; on files larger than a few GB plzip can use
-hundreds of processors, but on files of only a few MB plzip is no faster
-than lzip.
+hundreds of processors, but on files smaller than 1 MiB plzip is no faster
+than lzip (even at compression level \fB\-0\fR).
+The number of threads defaults to the number of processors.
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
 \fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
@@ -132,8 +133,8 @@ License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
 .br
 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
 There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
-Using lzlib 1.14
-Using LZ_API_VERSION = 1014
+Using lzlib 1.15\-rc1
+Using LZ_API_VERSION = 1015
 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 The full documentation for
 .B plzip
diff --git a/doc/plzip.info b/doc/plzip.info
index becd133..a12b06a 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.info
+++ b/doc/plzip.info
@@ -11,21 +11,22 @@ File: plzip.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Up: (dir)
 Plzip Manual
 ************
 
-This manual is for Plzip (version 1.11, 21 January 2024).
+This manual is for Plzip (version 1.12-rc1, 19 November 2024).
 
 * Menu:
 
-* Introduction::           Purpose and features of plzip
-* Output::                 Meaning of plzip's output
-* Invoking plzip::         Command-line interface
-* Program design::         Internal structure of plzip
-* Memory requirements::    Memory required to compress and decompress
-* Minimum file sizes::     Minimum file sizes required for full speed
-* File format::            Detailed format of the compressed file
-* Trailing data::          Extra data appended to the file
-* Examples::               A small tutorial with examples
-* Problems::               Reporting bugs
-* Concept index::          Index of concepts
+* Introduction::         Purpose and features of plzip
+* Output::               Meaning of plzip's output
+* Invoking plzip::       Command-line interface
+* Argument syntax::      By convention, options start with a hyphen
+* File format::          Detailed format of the compressed file
+* Program design::       Internal structure of plzip
+* Memory requirements::  Memory required to compress and decompress
+* Minimum file sizes::   Minimum file sizes required for full speed
+* Trailing data::        Extra data appended to the file
+* Examples::             A small tutorial with examples
+* Problems::             Reporting bugs
+* Concept index::        Index of concepts
 
 
    Copyright (C) 2009-2024 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
@@ -39,27 +40,27 @@ File: plzip.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Output,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top
 1 Introduction
 **************
 
-Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip,
-compatible with lzip 1.4 or newer. Plzip uses the compression library lzlib.
+Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip.
+Plzip uses the compression library lzlib.
 
    Lzip is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the
-one of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of the 'Lempel-Ziv-Markov
-chain-Algorithm' (LZMA) stream format to maximize interoperability. The
-maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed
-on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3-factor integrity
-checking. Lzip can compress about as fast as gzip (lzip -0) or compress most
-files more than bzip2 (lzip -9). Decompression speed is intermediate between
-gzip and bzip2. Lzip is better than gzip and bzip2 from a data recovery
-perspective. Lzip has been designed, written, and tested with great care to
-replace gzip and bzip2 as the standard general-purpose compressed format for
-Unix-like systems.
+one of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov
+chain-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability between
+implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip
+file can be decompressed on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and
+robust 3-factor integrity checking. 'lzip -0' compresses about as fast as
+gzip, while 'lzip -9' compresses most files more than bzip2. Decompression
+speed is intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data
+recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2. Lzip has been designed, written,
+and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general-purpose
+compressed format for Unix-like systems.
 
    Plzip can compress/decompress large files on multiprocessor machines much
 faster than lzip, at the cost of a slightly reduced compression ratio (0.4
 to 2 percent larger compressed files). Note that the number of usable
 threads is limited by file size; on files larger than a few GB plzip can use
-hundreds of processors, but on files of only a few MB plzip is no faster
-than lzip. *Note Minimum file sizes::.
+hundreds of processors, but on files smaller than 1 MiB plzip is no faster
+than lzip (even at compression level -0). *Note Minimum file sizes::.
 
    For creation and manipulation of compressed tar archives tarlz can be
 more efficient than using tar and plzip because tarlz is able to keep the
@@ -96,9 +97,9 @@ makes it safer than compressors returning ambiguous warning values (like
 gzip) when it is used as a back end for other programs like tar or zutils.
 
    Plzip automatically uses for each file the largest dictionary size that
-does not exceed neither the file size nor the limit given. Keep in mind
-that the decompression memory requirement is affected at compression time
-by the choice of dictionary size limit. *Note Memory requirements::.
+does not exceed neither the file size nor the limit given. The dictionary
+size used for decompression is the same dictionary size used for
+compression. *Note Memory requirements::.
 
    When compressing, plzip replaces every file given in the command line
 with a compressed version of itself, with the name "original_name.lz". When
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ have been compressed. Decompressed is used to refer to data which have
 undergone the process of decompression.
 
 
-File: plzip.info,  Node: Invoking plzip,  Next: Program design,  Prev: Output,  Up: Top
+File: plzip.info,  Node: Invoking plzip,  Next: Argument syntax,  Prev: Output,  Up: Top
 
 3 Invoking plzip
 ****************
@@ -189,8 +190,7 @@ means standard input. It can be mixed with other FILES and is read just
 once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
 './' to any file name beginning with a hyphen, or use '--'.
 
-   plzip supports the following options: *Note Argument syntax:
-(arg_parser)Argument syntax.
+plzip supports the following options: *Note Argument syntax::.
 
 '-h'
 '--help'
@@ -235,7 +235,8 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
      status 1. If a file fails to decompress, or is a terminal, plzip exits
      immediately with error status 2 without decompressing the rest of the
      files. A terminal is considered an uncompressed file, and therefore
-     invalid.
+     invalid. A multimember file with one or more empty members is accepted
+     if redirected to standard input.
 
 '-f'
 '--force'
@@ -259,7 +260,8 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
      '-v', the dictionary size, the number of members in the file, and the
      amount of trailing data (if any) are also printed. With '-vv', the
      positions and sizes of each member in multimember files are also
-     printed.
+     printed. A multimember file with one or more empty members is accepted
+     if redirected to standard input.
 
      If any file is damaged, does not exist, can't be opened, or is not
      regular, the final exit status is > 0. '-lq' can be used to check
@@ -278,8 +280,8 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
 '-n N'
 '--threads=N'
      Set the maximum number of worker threads, overriding the system's
-     default. Valid values range from 1 to "as many as your system can
-     support". If this option is not used, plzip tries to detect the number
+     default. Valid values range from 1 to as many as your system can
+     support. If this option is not used, plzip tries to detect the number
      of processors in the system and use it as default value. When
      compressing on a 32 bit system, plzip tries to limit the memory use to
      under 2.22 GiB (4 worker threads at level -9) by reducing the number
@@ -338,7 +340,8 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
      fails the test, does not exist, can't be opened, or is a terminal,
      plzip continues testing the rest of the files. A final diagnostic is
      shown at verbosity level 1 or higher if any file fails the test when
-     testing multiple files.
+     testing multiple files. A multimember file with one or more empty
+     members is accepted if redirected to standard input.
 
 '-v'
 '--verbose'
@@ -368,6 +371,7 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
      '-s64MiB -m273'
 
      Level   Dictionary size (-s)   Match length limit (-m)
+     ------------------------------------------------------
      -0      64 KiB                 16 bytes
      -1      1 MiB                  5 bytes
      -2      1.5 MiB                6 bytes
@@ -387,7 +391,7 @@ once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to prepend
      When decompressing, testing, or listing, allow trailing data whose
      first bytes are so similar to the magic bytes of a lzip header that
      they can be confused with a corrupt header. Use this option if a file
-     triggers a "corrupt header" error and the cause is not indeed a
+     triggers a 'corrupt header' error and the cause is not indeed a
      corrupt header.
 
 '--in-slots=N'
@@ -421,6 +425,7 @@ and 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)
@@ -439,9 +444,131 @@ corrupt or invalid input file, 3 for an internal consistency error (e.g.,
 bug) which caused plzip to panic.
 
 
-File: plzip.info,  Node: Program design,  Next: Memory requirements,  Prev: Invoking plzip,  Up: Top
+File: plzip.info,  Node: Argument syntax,  Next: File format,  Prev: Invoking plzip,  Up: Top
 
-4 Internal structure of plzip
+4 Syntax of command-line arguments
+**********************************
+
+POSIX recommends these conventions for command-line arguments.
+
+   * A command-line argument is an option if it begins with a hyphen ('-').
+
+   * Option names are single alphanumeric characters.
+
+   * Certain options require an argument.
+
+   * An option and its argument may or may not appear as separate tokens.
+     (In other words, the whitespace separating them is optional, unless the
+     argument is the empty string). Thus, '-o foo' and '-ofoo' are
+     equivalent.
+
+   * One or more options without arguments, followed by at most one option
+     that takes an argument, may follow a hyphen in a single token. Thus,
+     '-abc' is equivalent to '-a -b -c'.
+
+   * Options typically precede other non-option arguments.
+
+   * The argument '--' terminates all options; any following arguments are
+     treated as non-option arguments, even if they begin with a hyphen.
+
+   * A token consisting of a single hyphen character is interpreted as an
+     ordinary non-option argument. By convention, it is used to specify
+     standard input, standard output, or a file named '-'.
+
+GNU adds "long options" to these conventions:
+
+   * A long option consists of two hyphens ('--') followed by a name made
+     of alphanumeric characters and hyphens. Option names are typically one
+     to three words long, with hyphens to separate words. Abbreviations can
+     be used for the long option names as long as the abbreviations are
+     unique.
+
+   * A long option and its argument may or may not appear as separate
+     tokens. In the latter case they must be separated by an equal sign '='.
+     Thus, '--foo bar' and '--foo=bar' are equivalent.
+
+The syntax of options with an optional argument is
+'-<short_option><argument>' (without whitespace), or
+'--<long_option>=<argument>'.
+
+
+File: plzip.info,  Node: File format,  Next: Program design,  Prev: Argument syntax,  Up: Top
+
+5 File format
+*************
+
+Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
+when there is no longer anything to take away.
+-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+
+   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 one or more independent "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 can
+encode in compressed form up to 16 EiB - 1 byte of uncompressed data. The
+size of a multimember file is unlimited. Empty members (data size = 0) are
+not allowed in multimember files.
+
+   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 (the "magic" bytes)'
+     A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value "LZIP"
+     (0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
+
+'VN (version number, 1 byte)'
+     Just in case something needs to be modified in the future. 1 for now.
+
+'DS (coded dictionary size, 1 byte)'
+     The dictionary size is calculated by taking a power of 2 (the base
+     size) and subtracting from it a fraction between 0/16 and 7/16 of the
+     base size.
+     Bits 4-0 contain the base 2 logarithm of the base size (12 to 29).
+     Bits 7-5 contain the numerator of the fraction (0 to 7) to subtract
+     from the base size to obtain the dictionary size.
+     Example: 0xD3 = 2^19 - 6 * 2^15 = 512 KiB - 6 * 32 KiB = 320 KiB
+     Valid values for dictionary size range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB.
+
+'LZMA stream'
+     The LZMA stream, terminated by an 'End Of Stream' marker. Uses default
+     values for encoder properties. *Note Stream format: (lzip)Stream
+     format, for a complete description.
+
+'CRC32 (4 bytes)'
+     Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the original uncompressed data.
+
+'Data size (8 bytes)'
+     Size of the original uncompressed data.
+
+'Member size (8 bytes)'
+     Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field acts
+     as a distributed index, improves the checking of stream integrity, and
+     facilitates the safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember
+     files. Lzip limits the member size to 2 PiB to prevent the data size
+     field from overflowing.
+
+
+File: plzip.info,  Node: Program design,  Next: Memory requirements,  Prev: File format,  Up: Top
+
+6 Internal structure of plzip
 *****************************
 
 When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and compresses as
@@ -456,8 +583,8 @@ because lzip usually produces single-member files, which can't be
 decompressed in parallel.
 
    For each input file, a splitter thread and several worker threads are
-created, acting the main thread as muxer (multiplexer) thread. A "packet
-courier" takes care of data transfers among threads and limits the maximum
+created, acting the main thread as muxer (multiplexer) thread. A 'packet
+courier' takes care of data transfers among threads and limits the maximum
 number of data blocks (packets) being processed simultaneously.
 
    The splitter reads data blocks from the input file, and distributes them
@@ -486,7 +613,7 @@ only limited by the number of processors available and by I/O speed.
 
 File: plzip.info,  Node: Memory requirements,  Next: Minimum file sizes,  Prev: Program design,  Up: Top
 
-5 Memory required to compress and decompress
+7 Memory required to compress and decompress
 ********************************************
 
 The amount of memory required *per worker thread* for decompression or
@@ -520,6 +647,7 @@ The following table shows the memory required *per thread* for compression
 at a given level, using the default data size for each level:
 
 Level   Memory required
+------------------------
 -0      4.875 MiB
 -1      17.75 MiB
 -2      26.625 MiB
@@ -532,9 +660,9 @@ Level   Memory required
 -9      568 MiB
 
 
-File: plzip.info,  Node: Minimum file sizes,  Next: File format,  Prev: Memory requirements,  Up: Top
+File: plzip.info,  Node: Minimum file sizes,  Next: Trailing data,  Prev: Memory requirements,  Up: Top
 
-6 Minimum file sizes required for full compression speed
+8 Minimum file sizes required for full compression speed
 ********************************************************
 
 When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and compresses
@@ -569,85 +697,9 @@ Level
 -9           128 MiB   256 MiB   512 MiB   1 GiB     4 GiB     16 GiB
 
 
-File: plzip.info,  Node: File format,  Next: Trailing data,  Prev: Minimum file sizes,  Up: Top
-
-7 File format
-*************
-
-Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
-when there is no longer anything to take away.
--- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-
-
-   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 one or more independent "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 can
-encode in compressed form up to 16 EiB - 1 byte of uncompressed data. The
-size of a multimember file is unlimited.
-
-   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 (the "magic" bytes)'
-     A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value "LZIP"
-     (0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
-
-'VN (version number, 1 byte)'
-     Just in case something needs to be modified in the future. 1 for now.
+File: plzip.info,  Node: Trailing data,  Next: Examples,  Prev: Minimum file sizes,  Up: Top
 
-'DS (coded dictionary size, 1 byte)'
-     The dictionary size is calculated by taking a power of 2 (the base
-     size) and subtracting from it a fraction between 0/16 and 7/16 of the
-     base size.
-     Bits 4-0 contain the base 2 logarithm of the base size (12 to 29).
-     Bits 7-5 contain the numerator of the fraction (0 to 7) to subtract
-     from the base size to obtain the dictionary size.
-     Example: 0xD3 = 2^19 - 6 * 2^15 = 512 KiB - 6 * 32 KiB = 320 KiB
-     Valid values for dictionary size range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB.
-
-'LZMA stream'
-     The LZMA stream, finished by an "End Of Stream" marker. Uses default
-     values for encoder properties. *Note Stream format: (lzip)Stream
-     format, for a complete description.
-
-'CRC32 (4 bytes)'
-     Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the original uncompressed data.
-
-'Data size (8 bytes)'
-     Size of the original uncompressed data.
-
-'Member size (8 bytes)'
-     Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field acts
-     as a distributed index, improves the checking of stream integrity, and
-     facilitates the safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember
-     files. Lzip limits the member size to 2 PiB to prevent the data size
-     field from overflowing.
-
-
-
-File: plzip.info,  Node: Trailing data,  Next: Examples,  Prev: File format,  Up: Top
-
-8 Extra data appended to the file
+9 Extra data appended to the file
 *********************************
 
 Sometimes extra data are found appended to a lzip file after the last
@@ -657,7 +709,7 @@ member. Such trailing data may be:
      example when writing to a tape. It is safe to append any amount of
      padding zero bytes to a lzip file.
 
-   * Useful data added by the user; an "End Of File" string (to check that
+   * Useful data added by the user; an 'End Of File' string (to check that
      the file has not been truncated), a cryptographically secure hash, a
      description of file contents, etc. It is safe to append any amount of
      text to a lzip file as long as none of the first four bytes of the
@@ -693,8 +745,8 @@ where a file containing trailing data must be rejected, the option
 
 File: plzip.info,  Node: Examples,  Next: Problems,  Prev: Trailing data,  Up: Top
 
-9 A small tutorial with examples
-********************************
+10 A small tutorial with examples
+*********************************
 
 WARNING! Even if plzip is bug-free, other causes may result in a corrupt
 compressed file (bugs in the system libraries, memory errors, etc).
@@ -706,38 +758,32 @@ comparing the compressed file with the original because the corruption
 happens before plzip compresses the RAM contents, resulting in a valid
 compressed file containing wrong data.
 
-
 Example 1: Extract all the files from archive 'foo.tar.lz'.
 
        tar -xf foo.tar.lz
      or
        plzip -cd foo.tar.lz | tar -xf -
 
-
 Example 2: Replace a regular file with its compressed version 'file.lz' and
 show the compression ratio.
 
      plzip -v file
 
-
 Example 3: Like example 2 but the created 'file.lz' has a block size of
 1 MiB. The compression ratio is not shown.
 
      plzip -B 1MiB file
 
-
 Example 4: Restore a regular file from its compressed version 'file.lz'. If
 the operation is successful, 'file.lz' is removed.
 
      plzip -d file.lz
 
-
 Example 5: Check the integrity of the compressed file 'file.lz' and show
 status.
 
      plzip -tv file.lz
 
-
 Example 6: The right way of concatenating the decompressed output of two or
 more compressed files. *Note Trailing data::.
 
@@ -746,19 +792,16 @@ more compressed files. *Note Trailing data::.
      Do this instead
        plzip -cd file1.lz file2.lz file3.lz
 
-
 Example 7: Decompress 'file.lz' partially until 10 KiB of decompressed data
 are produced.
 
      plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1024 count=10
 
-
 Example 8: Decompress 'file.lz' partially from decompressed byte at offset
 10000 to decompressed byte at offset 14999 (5000 bytes are produced).
 
      plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1000 skip=10 count=5
 
-
 Example 9: Compress a whole device in /dev/sdc and send the output to
 'file.lz'.
 
@@ -769,7 +812,7 @@ Example 9: Compress a whole device in /dev/sdc and send the output to
 
 File: plzip.info,  Node: Problems,  Next: Concept index,  Prev: Examples,  Up: Top
 
-10 Reporting bugs
+11 Reporting bugs
 *****************
 
 There are probably bugs in plzip. There are certainly errors and omissions
@@ -790,6 +833,7 @@ Concept index
 
 * Menu:
 
+* argument syntax:                       Argument syntax.           (line 6)
 * bugs:                                  Problems.                  (line 6)
 * examples:                              Examples.                  (line 6)
 * file format:                           File format.               (line 6)
@@ -809,21 +853,22 @@ Concept index
 
 Tag Table:
 Node: Top217
-Node: Introduction1156
-Node: Output5934
-Node: Invoking plzip7497
-Ref: --trailing-error8372
-Ref: --data-size8610
-Node: Program design19519
-Node: Memory requirements21818
-Node: Minimum file sizes23503
-Node: File format25506
-Ref: coded-dict-size26945
-Node: Trailing data28195
-Node: Examples30531
-Ref: concat-example31964
-Node: Problems32721
-Node: Concept index33276
+Node: Introduction1207
+Node: Output5956
+Node: Invoking plzip7519
+Ref: --trailing-error8365
+Ref: --data-size8603
+Node: Argument syntax19941
+Node: File format21886
+Ref: coded-dict-size23386
+Node: Program design24637
+Node: Memory requirements26933
+Node: Minimum file sizes28643
+Node: Trailing data30648
+Node: Examples32991
+Ref: concat-example34420
+Node: Problems35174
+Node: Concept index35729
 
 End Tag Table
 
diff --git a/doc/plzip.texi b/doc/plzip.texi
index 323fad1..5ff39da 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.texi
+++ b/doc/plzip.texi
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 @finalout
 @c %**end of header
 
-@set UPDATED 21 January 2024
-@set VERSION 1.11
+@set UPDATED 19 November 2024
+@set VERSION 1.12-rc1
 
 @dircategory Compression
 @direntry
@@ -36,17 +36,18 @@
 This manual is for Plzip (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}).
 
 @menu
-* Introduction::           Purpose and features of plzip
-* Output::                 Meaning of plzip's output
-* Invoking plzip::         Command-line interface
-* Program design::         Internal structure of plzip
-* Memory requirements::    Memory required to compress and decompress
-* Minimum file sizes::     Minimum file sizes required for full speed
-* File format::            Detailed format of the compressed file
-* Trailing data::          Extra data appended to the file
-* Examples::               A small tutorial with examples
-* Problems::               Reporting bugs
-* Concept index::          Index of concepts
+* Introduction::         Purpose and features of plzip
+* Output::               Meaning of plzip's output
+* Invoking plzip::       Command-line interface
+* Argument syntax::      By convention, options start with a hyphen
+* File format::          Detailed format of the compressed file
+* Program design::       Internal structure of plzip
+* Memory requirements::  Memory required to compress and decompress
+* Minimum file sizes::   Minimum file sizes required for full speed
+* Trailing data::        Extra data appended to the file
+* Examples::             A small tutorial with examples
+* Problems::             Reporting bugs
+* Concept index::        Index of concepts
 @end menu
 
 @sp 1
@@ -61,30 +62,29 @@ distribute, and modify it.
 @chapter Introduction
 @cindex introduction
 
-@uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/plzip.html,,Plzip}
-is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip,
-compatible with lzip 1.4 or newer. Plzip uses the compression library
+@uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/plzip.html,,Plzip} is a massively parallel
+(multi-threaded) implementation of lzip. Plzip uses the compression library
 @uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/lzlib.html,,lzlib}.
 
 @uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/lzip.html,,Lzip}
 is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the one
-of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of the 'Lempel-Ziv-Markov
-chain-Algorithm' (LZMA) stream format to maximize interoperability. The
-maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed
-on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3-factor integrity
-checking. Lzip can compress about as fast as gzip @w{(lzip -0)} or compress most
-files more than bzip2 @w{(lzip -9)}. Decompression speed is intermediate between
-gzip and bzip2. Lzip is better than gzip and bzip2 from a data recovery
-perspective. Lzip has been designed, written, and tested with great care to
-replace gzip and bzip2 as the standard general-purpose compressed format for
-Unix-like systems.
+of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov
+chain-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability between
+implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip
+file can be decompressed on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and
+robust 3-factor integrity checking. @w{@samp{lzip -0}} compresses about as fast as
+gzip, while @w{@samp{lzip -9}} compresses most files more than bzip2. Decompression
+speed is intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data
+recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2. Lzip has been designed, written,
+and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general-purpose
+compressed format for Unix-like systems.
 
 Plzip can compress/decompress large files on multiprocessor machines much
 faster than lzip, at the cost of a slightly reduced compression ratio (0.4
 to 2 percent larger compressed files). Note that the number of usable
 threads is limited by file size; on files larger than a few GB plzip can use
-hundreds of processors, but on files of only a few MB plzip is no faster
-than lzip. @xref{Minimum file sizes}.
+hundreds of processors, but on files smaller than @w{1 MiB} plzip is no faster
+than lzip (even at compression level -0). @xref{Minimum file sizes}.
 
 For creation and manipulation of compressed tar archives
 @uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/manual/tarlz_manual.html,,tarlz} can be more
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ makes it safer than compressors returning ambiguous warning values (like
 gzip) when it is used as a back end for other programs like tar or zutils.
 
 Plzip automatically uses for each file the largest dictionary size that does
-not exceed neither the file size nor the limit given. Keep in mind that the
-decompression memory requirement is affected at compression time by the
-choice of dictionary size limit. @xref{Memory requirements}.
+not exceed neither the file size nor the limit given. The dictionary size
+used for decompression is the same dictionary size used for compression.
+@xref{Memory requirements}.
 
 When compressing, plzip replaces every file given in the command line
 with a compressed version of itself, with the name "original_name.lz".
@@ -235,11 +235,8 @@ argument means standard input. It can be mixed with other @var{files} and is
 read just once, the first time it appears in the command line. Remember to
 prepend @file{./} to any file name beginning with a hyphen, or use @samp{--}.
 
-plzip supports the following
-@uref{http://www.nongnu.org/arg-parser/manual/arg_parser_manual.html#Argument-syntax,,options}:
-@ifnothtml
-@xref{Argument syntax,,,arg_parser}.
-@end ifnothtml
+@noindent
+plzip supports the following options: @xref{Argument syntax}.
 
 @table @code
 @item -h
@@ -286,7 +283,8 @@ already exists and @option{--force} has not been specified, plzip continues
 decompressing the rest of the files and exits with error status 1. If a file
 fails to decompress, or is a terminal, plzip exits immediately with error
 status 2 without decompressing the rest of the files. A terminal is
-considered an uncompressed file, and therefore invalid.
+considered an uncompressed file, and therefore invalid. A multimember file
+with one or more empty members is accepted if redirected to standard input.
 
 @item -f
 @itemx --force
@@ -295,7 +293,7 @@ Force overwrite of output files.
 @item -F
 @itemx --recompress
 When compressing, force re-compression of files whose name already has
-the @samp{.lz} or @samp{.tlz} suffix.
+the @file{.lz} or @file{.tlz} suffix.
 
 @item -k
 @itemx --keep
@@ -309,7 +307,8 @@ even for multimember files. If more than one file is given, a final line
 containing the cumulative sizes is printed. With @option{-v}, the dictionary
 size, the number of members in the file, and the amount of trailing data (if
 any) are also printed. With @option{-vv}, the positions and sizes of each
-member in multimember files are also printed.
+member in multimember files are also printed. A multimember file with one or
+more empty members is accepted if redirected to standard input.
 
 If any file is damaged, does not exist, can't be opened, or is not regular,
 the final exit status is @w{> 0}. @option{-lq} can be used to check quickly
@@ -327,7 +326,7 @@ times.
 @item -n @var{n}
 @itemx --threads=@var{n}
 Set the maximum number of worker threads, overriding the system's default.
-Valid values range from 1 to "as many as your system can support". If this
+Valid values range from 1 to as many as your system can support. If this
 option is not used, plzip tries to detect the number of processors in the
 system and use it as default value. When compressing on a @w{32 bit} system,
 plzip tries to limit the memory use to under @w{2.22 GiB} (4 worker threads
@@ -353,10 +352,10 @@ to @option{-c}. @option{-o} has no effect when testing or listing.
 
 In order to keep backward compatibility with plzip versions prior to 1.9,
 when compressing from standard input and no other file names are given, the
-extension @samp{.lz} is appended to @var{file} unless it already ends in
-@samp{.lz} or @samp{.tlz}. This feature will be removed in a future version
+extension @file{.lz} is appended to @var{file} unless it already ends in
+@file{.lz} or @file{.tlz}. This feature will be removed in a future version
 of plzip. Meanwhile, redirection may be used instead of @option{-o} to write
-the compressed output to a file without the extension @samp{.lz} in its
+the compressed output to a file without the extension @file{.lz} in its
 name: @w{@samp{plzip < file > foo}}.
 
 @item -q
@@ -386,7 +385,8 @@ together with @option{-v} to see information about the files. If a file
 fails the test, does not exist, can't be opened, or is a terminal, plzip
 continues testing the rest of the files. A final diagnostic is shown at
 verbosity level 1 or higher if any file fails the test when testing multiple
-files.
+files. A multimember file with one or more empty members is accepted if
+redirected to standard input.
 
 @item -v
 @itemx --verbose
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ given, the last setting is used. For example @w{@option{-9 -s64MiB}} is
 equivalent to @w{@option{-s64MiB -m273}}
 
 @multitable {Level} {Dictionary size (-s)} {Match length limit (-m)}
-@item Level @tab Dictionary size (-s) @tab Match length limit (-m)
+@headitem Level @tab Dictionary size (-s) @tab Match length limit (-m)
 @item -0 @tab 64 KiB @tab  16 bytes
 @item -1 @tab  1 MiB @tab   5 bytes
 @item -2 @tab  1.5 MiB @tab   6 bytes
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ Aliases for GNU gzip compatibility.
 When decompressing, testing, or listing, allow trailing data whose first
 bytes are so similar to the magic bytes of a lzip header that they can
 be confused with a corrupt header. Use this option if a file triggers a
-"corrupt header" error and the cause is not indeed a corrupt header.
+'corrupt header' error and the cause is not indeed a corrupt header.
 
 @item --in-slots=@var{n}
 Number of @w{1 MiB} input packets buffered per worker thread when
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ and may be followed by a multiplier and an optional @samp{B} for "byte".
 Table of SI and binary prefixes (unit multipliers):
 
 @multitable {Prefix} {kilobyte   (10^3 = 1000)} {|} {Prefix} {kibibyte  (2^10 = 1024)}
-@item Prefix @tab Value               @tab | @tab Prefix @tab Value
+@headitem Prefix @tab Value           @tab | @tab Prefix @tab Value
 @item k @tab kilobyte   (10^3 = 1000) @tab | @tab Ki @tab kibibyte  (2^10 = 1024)
 @item M @tab megabyte   (10^6)        @tab | @tab Mi @tab mebibyte  (2^20)
 @item G @tab gigabyte   (10^9)        @tab | @tab Gi @tab gibibyte  (2^30)
@@ -494,6 +494,148 @@ indicate a corrupt or invalid input file, 3 for an internal consistency
 error (e.g., bug) which caused plzip to panic.
 
 
+@node Argument syntax
+@chapter Syntax of command-line arguments
+@cindex argument syntax
+
+POSIX recommends these conventions for command-line arguments.
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item A command-line argument is an option if it begins with a hyphen
+(@samp{-}).
+
+@item Option names are single alphanumeric characters.
+
+@item Certain options require an argument.
+
+@item An option and its argument may or may not appear as separate tokens.
+(In other words, the whitespace separating them is optional, unless the
+argument is the empty string).
+Thus, @w{@option{-o foo}} and @option{-ofoo} are equivalent.
+
+@item One or more options without arguments, followed by at most one option
+that takes an argument, may follow a hyphen in a single token.
+Thus, @option{-abc} is equivalent to @w{@option{-a -b -c}}.
+
+@item Options typically precede other non-option arguments.
+
+@item The argument @samp{--} terminates all options; any following arguments
+are treated as non-option arguments, even if they begin with a hyphen.
+
+@item A token consisting of a single hyphen character is interpreted as an
+ordinary non-option argument. By convention, it is used to specify standard
+input, standard output, or a file named @samp{-}.
+@end itemize
+
+@noindent
+GNU adds @dfn{long options} to these conventions:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item A long option consists of two hyphens (@samp{--}) followed by a name
+made of alphanumeric characters and hyphens. Option names are typically one
+to three words long, with hyphens to separate words. Abbreviations can be
+used for the long option names as long as the abbreviations are unique.
+
+@item A long option and its argument may or may not appear as separate
+tokens. In the latter case they must be separated by an equal sign @samp{=}.
+Thus, @w{@option{--foo bar}} and @option{--foo=bar} are equivalent.
+@end itemize
+
+@noindent
+The syntax of options with an optional argument is
+@option{-<short_option><argument>} (without whitespace), or
+@option{--<long_option>=<argument>}.
+
+
+@node File format
+@chapter File format
+@cindex file format
+
+Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
+when there is no longer anything to take away.@*
+--- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+
+In the diagram below, a box like this:
+
+@verbatim
++---+
+|   | <-- the vertical bars might be missing
++---+
+@end verbatim
+
+represents one byte; a box like this:
+
+@verbatim
++==============+
+|              |
++==============+
+@end verbatim
+
+represents a variable number of bytes.
+
+@noindent
+A lzip file consists of one or more independent "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 can
+encode in compressed form up to @w{16 EiB - 1 byte} of uncompressed data.
+The size of a multimember file is unlimited. Empty members (data size = 0)
+are not allowed in multimember files.
+
+Each member has the following structure:
+
+@verbatim
++--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+| ID string | VN | DS | LZMA stream | CRC32 |   Data size   |  Member size  |
++--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+@end verbatim
+
+All multibyte values are stored in little endian order.
+
+@table @samp
+@item ID string (the "magic" bytes)
+A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value "LZIP"
+(0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
+
+@item VN (version number, 1 byte)
+Just in case something needs to be modified in the future. 1 for now.
+
+@anchor{coded-dict-size}
+@item DS (coded dictionary size, 1 byte)
+The dictionary size is calculated by taking a power of 2 (the base size)
+and subtracting from it a fraction between 0/16 and 7/16 of the base size.@*
+Bits 4-0 contain the base 2 logarithm of the base size (12 to 29).@*
+Bits 7-5 contain the numerator of the fraction (0 to 7) to subtract
+from the base size to obtain the dictionary size.@*
+Example: 0xD3 = 2^19 - 6 * 2^15 = 512 KiB - 6 * 32 KiB = 320 KiB@*
+Valid values for dictionary size range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB.
+
+@item LZMA stream
+The LZMA stream, terminated by an 'End Of Stream' marker. Uses default values
+for encoder properties.
+@ifnothtml
+@xref{Stream format,,,lzip},
+@end ifnothtml
+@ifhtml
+See
+@uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/manual/lzip_manual.html#Stream-format,,Stream format}
+@end ifhtml
+for a complete description.
+
+@item CRC32 (4 bytes)
+Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the original uncompressed data.
+
+@item Data size (8 bytes)
+Size of the original uncompressed data.
+
+@item Member size (8 bytes)
+Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field acts
+as a distributed index, improves the checking of stream integrity, and
+facilitates the safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember files.
+Lzip limits the member size to @w{2 PiB} to prevent the data size field from
+overflowing.
+@end table
+
+
 @node Program design
 @chapter Internal structure of plzip
 @cindex program design
@@ -510,8 +652,8 @@ because lzip usually produces single-member files, which can't be
 decompressed in parallel.
 
 For each input file, a splitter thread and several worker threads are
-created, acting the main thread as muxer (multiplexer) thread. A "packet
-courier" takes care of data transfers among threads and limits the
+created, acting the main thread as muxer (multiplexer) thread. A 'packet
+courier' takes care of data transfers among threads and limits the
 maximum number of data blocks (packets) being processed simultaneously.
 
 The splitter reads data blocks from the input file, and distributes them
@@ -587,7 +729,7 @@ The following table shows the memory required @strong{per thread} for
 compression at a given level, using the default data size for each level:
 
 @multitable {Level} {Memory required}
-@item Level @tab Memory required
+@headitem Level @tab Memory required
 @item -0 @tab   4.875 MiB
 @item -1 @tab  17.75 MiB
 @item -2 @tab  26.625 MiB
@@ -638,96 +780,6 @@ data size for each level:
 @end multitable
 
 
-@node File format
-@chapter File format
-@cindex file format
-
-Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but
-when there is no longer anything to take away.@*
---- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-
-@sp 1
-In the diagram below, a box like this:
-
-@verbatim
-+---+
-|   | <-- the vertical bars might be missing
-+---+
-@end verbatim
-
-represents one byte; a box like this:
-
-@verbatim
-+==============+
-|              |
-+==============+
-@end verbatim
-
-represents a variable number of bytes.
-
-@sp 1
-A lzip file consists of one or more independent "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 can
-encode in compressed form up to @w{16 EiB - 1 byte} of uncompressed data.
-The size of a multimember file is unlimited.
-
-Each member has the following structure:
-
-@verbatim
-+--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| ID string | VN | DS | LZMA stream | CRC32 |   Data size   |  Member size  |
-+--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-@end verbatim
-
-All multibyte values are stored in little endian order.
-
-@table @samp
-@item ID string (the "magic" bytes)
-A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value "LZIP"
-(0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
-
-@item VN (version number, 1 byte)
-Just in case something needs to be modified in the future. 1 for now.
-
-@anchor{coded-dict-size}
-@item DS (coded dictionary size, 1 byte)
-The dictionary size is calculated by taking a power of 2 (the base size)
-and subtracting from it a fraction between 0/16 and 7/16 of the base size.@*
-Bits 4-0 contain the base 2 logarithm of the base size (12 to 29).@*
-Bits 7-5 contain the numerator of the fraction (0 to 7) to subtract
-from the base size to obtain the dictionary size.@*
-Example: 0xD3 = 2^19 - 6 * 2^15 = 512 KiB - 6 * 32 KiB = 320 KiB@*
-Valid values for dictionary size range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB.
-
-@item LZMA stream
-The LZMA stream, finished by an "End Of Stream" marker. Uses default values
-for encoder properties.
-@ifnothtml
-@xref{Stream format,,,lzip},
-@end ifnothtml
-@ifhtml
-See
-@uref{http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/manual/lzip_manual.html#Stream-format,,Stream format}
-@end ifhtml
-for a complete description.
-
-@item CRC32 (4 bytes)
-Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the original uncompressed data.
-
-@item Data size (8 bytes)
-Size of the original uncompressed data.
-
-@item Member size (8 bytes)
-Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field acts
-as a distributed index, improves the checking of stream integrity, and
-facilitates the safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember files.
-Lzip limits the member size to @w{2 PiB} to prevent the data size field from
-overflowing.
-
-@end table
-
-
 @node Trailing data
 @chapter Extra data appended to the file
 @cindex trailing data
@@ -742,7 +794,7 @@ example when writing to a tape. It is safe to append any amount of
 padding zero bytes to a lzip file.
 
 @item
-Useful data added by the user; an "End Of File" string (to check that the
+Useful data added by the user; an 'End Of File' string (to check that the
 file has not been truncated), a cryptographically secure hash, a description
 of file contents, etc. It is safe to append any amount of text to a lzip
 file as long as none of the first four bytes of the text matches the
@@ -794,9 +846,8 @@ compression can only be detected by comparing the compressed file with the
 original because the corruption happens before plzip compresses the RAM
 contents, resulting in a valid compressed file containing wrong data.
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 1: Extract all the files from archive @samp{foo.tar.lz}.
+Example 1: Extract all the files from archive @file{foo.tar.lz}.
 
 @example
   tar -xf foo.tar.lz
@@ -804,43 +855,38 @@ or
   plzip -cd foo.tar.lz | tar -xf -
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 2: Replace a regular file with its compressed version @samp{file.lz}
+Example 2: Replace a regular file with its compressed version @file{file.lz}
 and show the compression ratio.
 
 @example
 plzip -v file
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 3: Like example 2 but the created @samp{file.lz} has a block size of
+Example 3: Like example 2 but the created @file{file.lz} has a block size of
 @w{1 MiB}. The compression ratio is not shown.
 
 @example
 plzip -B 1MiB file
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
 Example 4: Restore a regular file from its compressed version
-@samp{file.lz}. If the operation is successful, @samp{file.lz} is removed.
+@file{file.lz}. If the operation is successful, @file{file.lz} is removed.
 
 @example
 plzip -d file.lz
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 5: Check the integrity of the compressed file @samp{file.lz} and
+Example 5: Check the integrity of the compressed file @file{file.lz} and
 show status.
 
 @example
 plzip -tv file.lz
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @anchor{concat-example}
 @noindent
 Example 6: The right way of concatenating the decompressed output of two or
@@ -853,28 +899,25 @@ Do this instead
   plzip -cd file1.lz file2.lz file3.lz
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 7: Decompress @samp{file.lz} partially until @w{10 KiB} of
+Example 7: Decompress @file{file.lz} partially until @w{10 KiB} of
 decompressed data are produced.
 
 @example
 plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1024 count=10
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
-Example 8: Decompress @samp{file.lz} partially from decompressed byte at
+Example 8: Decompress @file{file.lz} partially from decompressed byte at
 offset 10000 to decompressed byte at offset 14999 (5000 bytes are produced).
 
 @example
 plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1000 skip=10 count=5
 @end example
 
-@sp 1
 @noindent
 Example 9: Compress a whole device in /dev/sdc and send the output to
-@samp{file.lz}.
+@file{file.lz}.
 
 @example
   plzip -c /dev/sdc > file.lz
diff --git a/list.cc b/list.cc
index 4b212fc..6047232 100644
--- a/list.cc
+++ b/list.cc
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 #define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
 
+#include <cerrno>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <string>
@@ -54,10 +55,10 @@ int list_files( const std::vector< std::string > & filenames,
   int files = 0, retval = 0;
   bool first_post = true;
   bool stdin_used = false;
-  
+
   for( unsigned i = 0; i < filenames.size(); ++i )
     {
-    const bool from_stdin = ( filenames[i] == "-" );
+    const bool from_stdin = filenames[i] == "-";
     if( from_stdin ) { if( stdin_used ) continue; else stdin_used = true; }
     const char * const input_filename =
       from_stdin ? "(stdin)" : filenames[i].c_str();
@@ -74,6 +75,8 @@ int list_files( const std::vector< std::string > & filenames,
       set_retval( retval, lzip_index.retval() );
       continue;
       }
+    const bool multi_empty = !from_stdin && lzip_index.multi_empty();
+    if( multi_empty ) set_retval( retval, 2 );
     if( verbosity < 0 ) continue;
     const unsigned long long udata_size = lzip_index.udata_size();
     const unsigned long long cdata_size = lzip_index.cdata_size();
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ int list_files( const std::vector< std::string > & filenames,
       if( verbosity >= 1 ) std::fputs( "   dict   memb  trail ", stdout );
       std::fputs( "  uncompressed     compressed   saved  name\n", stdout );
       }
+    if( multi_empty )
+      { std::fflush( stdout ); show_file_error( input_filename, empty_msg ); }
     if( verbosity >= 1 )
       std::printf( "%s %5ld %6lld ", format_ds( lzip_index.dictionary_size() ),
                    members, lzip_index.file_size() - cdata_size );
@@ -103,12 +108,16 @@ int list_files( const std::vector< std::string > & filenames,
       first_post = true;	// reprint heading after list of members
       }
     std::fflush( stdout );
+    if( std::ferror( stdout ) ) break;
     }
-  if( verbosity >= 0 && files > 1 )
+  if( verbosity >= 0 && files > 1 && !std::ferror( stdout ) )
     {
     if( verbosity >= 1 ) std::fputs( "                      ", stdout );
     list_line( total_uncomp, total_comp, "(totals)" );
     std::fflush( stdout );
     }
+  if( verbosity >= 0 && ( std::ferror( stdout ) || std::fclose( stdout ) != 0 ) )
+    { show_file_error( "(stdout)", write_error_msg, errno );
+      set_retval( retval, 1 ); }
   return retval;
   }
diff --git a/lzip.h b/lzip.h
index 8007fbf..ba8b7d0 100644
--- a/lzip.h
+++ b/lzip.h
@@ -207,8 +207,10 @@ inline void set_retval( int & retval, const int new_val )
 const char * const bad_magic_msg = "Bad magic number (file not in lzip format).";
 const char * const bad_dict_msg = "Invalid dictionary size in member header.";
 const char * const corrupt_mm_msg = "Corrupt header in multimember file.";
-const char * const trailing_msg = "Trailing data not allowed.";
+const char * const empty_msg = "Empty member not allowed.";
 const char * const mem_msg = "Not enough memory.";
+const char * const trailing_msg = "Trailing data not allowed.";
+const char * const write_error_msg = "Write error";
 
 // defined in compress.cc
 int readblock( const int fd, uint8_t * const buf, const int size );
@@ -255,7 +257,7 @@ void show_results( const unsigned long long in_size,
 int decompress( const unsigned long long cfile_size, int num_workers,
                 const int infd, const int outfd, const Cl_options & cl_opts,
                 const Pretty_print & pp, const int debug_level,
-                const int in_slots, const int out_slots,
+                const int in_slots, const int out_slots, const bool from_stdin,
                 const bool infd_isreg, const bool one_to_one );
 
 // defined in list.cc
diff --git a/lzip_index.cc b/lzip_index.cc
index 8d1aa0c..ad9157b 100644
--- a/lzip_index.cc
+++ b/lzip_index.cc
@@ -45,9 +45,8 @@ int seek_read( const int fd, uint8_t * const buf, const int size,
 
 bool Lzip_index::check_header( const Lzip_header & header, const bool first )
   {
-  if( !header.check_magic() )
-    { error_ = bad_magic_msg; retval_ = 2; if( first ) bad_magic_ = true;
-      return false; }
+  if( header.check_magic() ) { if( first ) good_magic_ = true; }
+  else { error_ = bad_magic_msg; retval_ = 2; return false; }
   if( !header.check_version() )
     { error_ = bad_version( header.version() ); retval_ = 2; return false; }
   if( !isvalid_ds( header.dictionary_size() ) )
@@ -145,20 +144,20 @@ bool Lzip_index::skip_trailing_data( const int fd, unsigned long long & pos,
 
 Lzip_index::Lzip_index( const int infd, const Cl_options & cl_opts )
   : insize( lseek( infd, 0, SEEK_END ) ), retval_( 0 ), dictionary_size_( 0 ),
-    bad_magic_( false )
+    good_magic_( false )
   {
   if( insize < 0 )
     { set_errno_error( "Input file is not seekable: " ); return; }
+  Lzip_header header;
+  if( insize >= header.size &&
+      ( !read_header( infd, header, 0 ) ||
+        !check_header( header, true ) ) ) return;
   if( insize < min_member_size )
     { error_ = "Input file is too short."; retval_ = 2; return; }
   if( insize > INT64_MAX )
     { error_ = "Input file is too long (2^63 bytes or more).";
       retval_ = 2; return; }
 
-  Lzip_header header;
-  if( !read_header( infd, header, 0 ) ||
-      !check_header( header, true ) ) return;
-
   unsigned long long pos = insize;	// always points to a header or to EOF
   while( pos >= min_member_size )
     {
diff --git a/lzip_index.h b/lzip_index.h
index a994f1c..ad6a3e2 100644
--- a/lzip_index.h
+++ b/lzip_index.h
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Lzip_index
   const long long insize;
   int retval_;
   unsigned dictionary_size_;	// largest dictionary size in the file
-  bool bad_magic_;		// bad magic in first header
+  bool good_magic_;		// good magic in first header
 
   bool check_header( const Lzip_header & header, const bool first );
   void set_errno_error( const char * const msg );
@@ -71,7 +71,15 @@ public:
   const std::string & error() const { return error_; }
   int retval() const { return retval_; }
   unsigned dictionary_size() const { return dictionary_size_; }
-  bool bad_magic() const { return bad_magic_; }
+  bool good_magic() const { return good_magic_; }
+
+  bool multi_empty() const	// multimember file with empty member(s)
+    {
+    if( member_vector.size() > 1 )
+      for( unsigned long i = 0; i < member_vector.size(); ++i )
+        if( member_vector[i].dblock.size() == 0 ) return true;
+    return false;
+    }
 
   long long udata_size() const
     { if( member_vector.empty() ) return 0;
diff --git a/main.cc b/main.cc
index 548b58f..c8406cb 100644
--- a/main.cc
+++ b/main.cc
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <cerrno>
-#include <climits>		// SSIZE_MAX
+#include <climits>		// CHAR_BIT, SSIZE_MAX
 #include <csignal>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstdlib>
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@
 #if defined __MSVCRT__ || defined __OS2__
 #include <io.h>
 #if defined __MSVCRT__
+#include <direct.h>
 #define fchmod(x,y) 0
 #define fchown(x,y,z) 0
+#define mkdir(name,mode) _mkdir(name)
 #define strtoull std::strtoul
 #define SIGHUP SIGTERM
 #define S_ISSOCK(x) 0
@@ -102,25 +104,26 @@ bool delete_output_on_interrupt = false;
 
 void show_help( const long num_online )
   {
-  std::printf( "Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip,\n"
-               "compatible with lzip 1.4 or newer. Plzip uses the compression library lzlib.\n"
+  std::printf( "Plzip is a massively parallel (multi-threaded) implementation of lzip. Plzip\n"
+               "uses the compression library lzlib.\n"
                "\nLzip is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the one\n"
-               "of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of the 'Lempel-Ziv-Markov\n"
-               "chain-Algorithm' (LZMA) stream format to maximize interoperability. The\n"
-               "maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed\n"
-               "on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3-factor integrity\n"
-               "checking. Lzip can compress about as fast as gzip (lzip -0) or compress most\n"
-               "files more than bzip2 (lzip -9). Decompression speed is intermediate between\n"
-               "gzip and bzip2. Lzip is better than gzip and bzip2 from a data recovery\n"
-               "perspective. Lzip has been designed, written, and tested with great care to\n"
-               "replace gzip and bzip2 as the standard general-purpose compressed format for\n"
-               "Unix-like systems.\n"
+               "of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a simplified form of LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov\n"
+               "chain-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability between\n"
+               "implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip\n"
+               "file can be decompressed on 32-bit machines. Lzip provides accurate and\n"
+               "robust 3-factor integrity checking. 'lzip -0' compresses about as fast as\n"
+               "gzip, while 'lzip -9' compresses most files more than bzip2. Decompression\n"
+               "speed is intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data\n"
+               "recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2. Lzip has been designed, written,\n"
+               "and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general-purpose\n"
+               "compressed format for Unix-like systems.\n"
                "\nPlzip can compress/decompress large files on multiprocessor machines much\n"
                "faster than lzip, at the cost of a slightly reduced compression ratio (0.4\n"
                "to 2 percent larger compressed files). Note that the number of usable\n"
                "threads is limited by file size; on files larger than a few GB plzip can use\n"
-               "hundreds of processors, but on files of only a few MB plzip is no faster\n"
-               "than lzip.\n"
+               "hundreds of processors, but on files smaller than 1 MiB plzip is no faster\n"
+               "than lzip (even at compression level -0).\n"
+               "The number of threads defaults to the number of processors.\n"
                "\nUsage: %s [options] [files]\n", invocation_name );
   std::printf( "\nOptions:\n"
                "  -h, --help                     display this help and exit\n"
@@ -277,7 +280,7 @@ const char * format_ds( const unsigned dictionary_size )
   const char * p = "";
   const char * np = "  ";
   unsigned num = dictionary_size;
-  bool exact = ( num % factor == 0 );
+  bool exact = num % factor == 0;
 
   for( int i = 0; i < n && ( num > 9999 || ( exact && num >= factor ) ); ++i )
     { num /= factor; if( num % factor != 0 ) exact = false;
@@ -294,7 +297,7 @@ void show_header( const unsigned dictionary_size )
 
 namespace {
 
-// separate numbers of 5 or more digits in groups of 3 digits using '_'
+// separate numbers of 6 or more digits in groups of 3 digits using '_'
 const char * format_num3( unsigned long long num )
   {
   enum { buffers = 8, bufsize = 4 * sizeof num, n = 10 };
@@ -306,7 +309,7 @@ const char * format_num3( unsigned long long num )
   char * const buf = buffer[current++]; current %= buffers;
   char * p = buf + bufsize - 1;		// fill the buffer backwards
   *p = 0;	// terminator
-  if( num > 1024 )
+  if( num > 9999 )
     {
     char prefix = 0;			// try binary first, then si
     for( int i = 0; i < n && num != 0 && num % 1024 == 0; ++i )
@@ -317,7 +320,7 @@ const char * format_num3( unsigned long long num )
         { num /= 1000; prefix = si_prefix[i]; }
     if( prefix ) *(--p) = prefix;
     }
-  const bool split = num >= 10000;
+  const bool split = num >= 100000;
 
   for( int i = 0; ; )
     {
@@ -352,7 +355,7 @@ unsigned long long getnum( const char * const arg,
 
   if( !errno && tail[0] )
     {
-    const unsigned factor = ( tail[1] == 'i' ) ? 1024 : 1000;
+    const unsigned factor = (tail[1] == 'i') ? 1024 : 1000;
     int exponent = 0;				// 0 = bad multiplier
     switch( tail[0] )
       {
@@ -470,9 +473,9 @@ int open_instream( const char * const name, struct stat * const in_statsp,
     {
     const int i = fstat( infd, in_statsp );
     const mode_t mode = in_statsp->st_mode;
-    const bool can_read = ( i == 0 && !reg_only &&
-                            ( S_ISBLK( mode ) || S_ISCHR( mode ) ||
-                              S_ISFIFO( mode ) || S_ISSOCK( mode ) ) );
+    const bool can_read = i == 0 && !reg_only &&
+                          ( S_ISBLK( mode ) || S_ISCHR( mode ) ||
+                            S_ISFIFO( mode ) || S_ISSOCK( mode ) );
     if( i != 0 || ( !S_ISREG( mode ) && ( !can_read || one_to_one ) ) )
       {
       if( verbosity >= 0 )
@@ -495,7 +498,7 @@ int open_instream2( const char * const name, struct stat * const in_statsp,
   if( program_mode == m_compress && !recompress && eindex >= 0 )
     {
     if( verbosity >= 0 )
-      std::fprintf( stderr, "%s: %s: Input file already has '%s' suffix.\n",
+      std::fprintf( stderr, "%s: %s: Input file already has '%s' suffix, ignored.\n",
                     program_name, name, known_extensions[eindex].from );
     return -1;
     }
@@ -539,8 +542,8 @@ bool open_outstream( const bool force, const bool protect )
   if( force ) flags |= O_TRUNC; else flags |= O_EXCL;
 
   outfd = -1;
-  if( output_filename.size() &&
-      output_filename[output_filename.size()-1] == '/' ) errno = EISDIR;
+  if( output_filename.size() && output_filename.end()[-1] == '/' )
+    errno = EISDIR;
   else {
     if( !protect && !make_dirs( output_filename ) )
       { show_file_error( output_filename.c_str(),
@@ -810,7 +813,7 @@ int main( const int argc, const char * const argv[] )
     { opt_in, "in-slots",       Arg_parser::yes },
     { opt_lt, "loose-trailing", Arg_parser::no  },
     { opt_out, "out-slots",     Arg_parser::yes },
-    {  0, 0,                    Arg_parser::no  } };
+    { 0, 0,                     Arg_parser::no  } };
 
   const Arg_parser parser( argc, argv, options );
   if( parser.error().size() )				// bad option
@@ -831,11 +834,11 @@ int main( const int argc, const char * const argv[] )
     const char * const arg = sarg.c_str();
     switch( code )
       {
-      case '0': case '1': case '2': case '3': case '4':
-      case '5': case '6': case '7': case '8': case '9':
+      case '0': case '1': case '2': case '3': case '4': case '5':
+      case '6': case '7': case '8': case '9':
                 encoder_options = option_mapping[code-'0']; break;
       case 'a': cl_opts.ignore_trailing = false; break;
-      case 'b': break;
+      case 'b': break;					// ignored
       case 'B': data_size = getnum( arg, pn, 2 * LZ_min_dictionary_size(),
                                     2 * LZ_max_dictionary_size() ); break;
       case 'c': to_stdout = true; break;
@@ -854,7 +857,7 @@ int main( const int argc, const char * const argv[] )
       case 'q': verbosity = -1; break;
       case 's': encoder_options.dictionary_size = get_dict_size( arg, pn );
                 break;
-      case 'S': break;
+      case 'S': break;					// ignored
       case 't': set_mode( program_mode, m_test ); break;
       case 'v': if( verbosity < 4 ) ++verbosity; break;
       case 'V': show_version(); return 0;
@@ -935,9 +938,10 @@ int main( const int argc, const char * const argv[] )
     {
     std::string input_filename;
     int infd;
+    const bool from_stdin = filenames[i] == "-";
 
     pp.set_name( filenames[i] );
-    if( filenames[i] == "-" )
+    if( from_stdin )
       {
       if( stdin_used ) continue; else stdin_used = true;
       infd = STDIN_FILENO;
@@ -985,8 +989,8 @@ int main( const int argc, const char * const argv[] )
                       infd, outfd, pp, debug_level );
     else
       tmp = decompress( cfile_size, num_workers, infd, outfd, cl_opts, pp,
-                        debug_level, in_slots, out_slots, infd_isreg,
-                        one_to_one );
+                        debug_level, in_slots, out_slots, from_stdin,
+                        infd_isreg, one_to_one );
     if( close( infd ) != 0 )
       { show_file_error( pp.name(), "Error closing input file", errno );
         set_retval( tmp, 1 ); }
diff --git a/testsuite/check.sh b/testsuite/check.sh
index 7ec899e..61ac8e0 100755
--- a/testsuite/check.sh
+++ b/testsuite/check.sh
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@ if [ -d tmp ] ; then rm -rf tmp ; fi
 mkdir tmp
 cd "${objdir}"/tmp || framework_failure
 
-cat "${testdir}"/test.txt > in || framework_failure
+cp "${testdir}"/test.txt in || framework_failure
 in_lz="${testdir}"/test.txt.lz
-in_em="${testdir}"/test_em.txt.lz
 fox_lz="${testdir}"/fox.lz
 fail=0
 lwarn8=0
@@ -112,33 +111,25 @@ printf "LZIP\001+.............................." | "${LZIP}" -t 2> /dev/null
 
 printf "\ntesting decompression..."
 
-for i in "${in_lz}" "${in_em}" ; do
-	"${LZIP}" -lq "$i" || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	"${LZIP}" -t "$i" || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	"${LZIP}" -d "$i" -o out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	"${LZIP}" -cd "$i" > out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	"${LZIP}" -d "$i" -o - > out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	"${LZIP}" -d < "$i" > out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO "$i"
-	rm -f out || framework_failure
-done
-
-lines=`"${LZIP}" -tvv "${in_em}" 2>&1 | wc -l` || test_failed $LINENO
-[ "${lines}" -eq 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO "${lines}"
-
-lines=`"${LZIP}" -lvv "${in_em}" | wc -l` || test_failed $LINENO
-[ "${lines}" -eq 11 ] || test_failed $LINENO "${lines}"
+"${LZIP}" -l "${in_lz}" > /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -t "${in_lz}" || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -d "${in_lz}" -o out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -cd "${in_lz}" > out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -d "${in_lz}" -o - > out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -d < "${in_lz}" > out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+rm -f out || framework_failure
 
-cat "${in_lz}" > out.lz || framework_failure
+cp "${in_lz}" out.lz || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -dk out.lz || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f out || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -cd "${fox_lz}" > fox || test_failed $LINENO
-cat fox > copy || framework_failure
-cat "${in_lz}" > copy.lz || framework_failure
+cp fox copy || framework_failure
+cp "${in_lz}" copy.lz || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -d copy.lz out.lz 2> /dev/null	# skip copy, decompress out
 [ $? = 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 [ ! -e out.lz ] || test_failed $LINENO
@@ -152,7 +143,6 @@ rm -f copy out || framework_failure
 printf "to be overwritten" > out || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -df -o out < "${in_lz}" || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
-rm -f out || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -d -o ./- "${in_lz}" || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in ./- || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f ./- || framework_failure
@@ -160,12 +150,12 @@ rm -f ./- || framework_failure
 cmp in ./- || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f ./- || framework_failure
 
-cat "${in_lz}" > anyothername || framework_failure
+cp "${in_lz}" anyothername || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -dv - anyothername - < "${in_lz}" > out 2> /dev/null ||
 	test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in anyothername.out || test_failed $LINENO
-rm -f out anyothername.out || framework_failure
+rm -f anyothername.out || framework_failure
 
 "${LZIP}" -lq in "${in_lz}"
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
@@ -182,7 +172,7 @@ cat out in | cmp in - || test_failed $LINENO		# out must be empty
 [ $? = 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f out || framework_failure
-cat "${in_lz}" > out.lz || framework_failure
+cp "${in_lz}" out.lz || framework_failure
 for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ; do
 	printf "g" >> out.lz || framework_failure
 	"${LZIP}" -alvv out.lz "${in_lz}" > /dev/null 2>&1
@@ -203,7 +193,7 @@ cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f out || framework_failure
 
 cat in in > in2 || framework_failure
-"${LZIP}" -lq "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -l "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" > /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -t "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -cd "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" -o out > out2 || test_failed $LINENO
 [ ! -e out ] || test_failed $LINENO			# override -o
@@ -214,6 +204,11 @@ cmp in2 out2 || test_failed $LINENO
 rm -f out2 || framework_failure
 
 cat "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" > out2.lz || framework_failure
+lines=`"${LZIP}" -tvv out2.lz 2>&1 | wc -l` || test_failed $LINENO
+[ "${lines}" -eq 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO "${lines}"
+lines=`"${LZIP}" -lvv out2.lz | wc -l` || test_failed $LINENO
+[ "${lines}" -eq 5 ] || test_failed $LINENO "${lines}"
+
 printf "\ngarbage" >> out2.lz || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -tvvvv out2.lz 2> /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -alq out2.lz
@@ -243,6 +238,21 @@ rm -rf a || framework_failure
 [ $? = 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 [ ! -e a ] || test_failed $LINENO
 
+touch empty em || framework_failure
+"${LZIP}" -0 em || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -l em.lz > /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -dk em.lz || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp empty em || test_failed $LINENO
+cat em.lz em.lz | "${LZIP}" -t || test_failed $LINENO
+cat em.lz em.lz | "${LZIP}" -d > em || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp empty em || test_failed $LINENO
+cat em.lz "${in_lz}" | "${LZIP}" -t || test_failed $LINENO
+cat em.lz "${in_lz}" | "${LZIP}" -d > out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+cat "${in_lz}" em.lz | "${LZIP}" -t || test_failed $LINENO
+cat "${in_lz}" em.lz | "${LZIP}" -d > out || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
+
 printf "\ntesting   compression..."
 
 "${LZIP}" -c -0 in in in -o out3.lz > copy2.lz || test_failed $LINENO
@@ -251,7 +261,7 @@ printf "\ntesting   compression..."
 "${LZIP}" -d copy2.lz -o out2 || test_failed $LINENO
 [ -e copy2.lz ] || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in2 out2 || test_failed $LINENO
-rm -f in2 out2 copy2.lz || framework_failure
+rm -f copy2.lz || framework_failure
 
 "${LZIP}" -cf "${in_lz}" > lzlz 2> /dev/null	# /dev/null is a tty on OS/2
 [ $? = 1 ] || test_failed $LINENO
@@ -332,11 +342,44 @@ rm -rf a fox || framework_failure
 
 printf "\ntesting bad input..."
 
+cat em.lz em.lz > ee.lz || framework_failure
+"${LZIP}" -l < ee.lz > /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -t < ee.lz || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -d < ee.lz > em || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp empty em || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -lq ee.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -tq ee.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -dq ee.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+[ ! -e ee ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -cdq ee.lz > em
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp empty em || test_failed $LINENO
+rm -f empty em || framework_failure
+cat "${in_lz}" em.lz "${in_lz}" > inein.lz || framework_failure
+"${LZIP}" -l < inein.lz > /dev/null || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -t < inein.lz || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -d < inein.lz > out2 || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in2 out2 || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -lq inein.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -tq inein.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -dq inein.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+[ ! -e inein ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -cdq inein.lz > out2
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+cmp in2 out2 || test_failed $LINENO
+rm -f in2 out2 inein.lz em.lz || framework_failure
+
 headers='LZIp LZiP LZip LzIP LzIp LziP lZIP lZIp lZiP lzIP'
-body='\001\014\000\203\377\373\377\377\300\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\000$\000\000\000\000\000\000\000'
-cat "${in_lz}" > int.lz || framework_failure
+body='\001\014\000\000\101\376\367\377\377\340\000\200\000\215\357\002\322\001\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\045\000\000\000\000\000\000\000'
+cp "${in_lz}" int.lz || framework_failure
 printf "LZIP${body}" >> int.lz || framework_failure
-if "${LZIP}" -tq int.lz ; then
+if "${LZIP}" -t int.lz ; then
 	for header in ${headers} ; do
 		printf "${header}${body}" > int.lz || framework_failure
 		"${LZIP}" -lq int.lz			# first member
@@ -355,7 +398,7 @@ if "${LZIP}" -tq int.lz ; then
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO ${header}
 		"${LZIP}" -cdq --loose-trailing int.lz > /dev/null
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO ${header}
-		cat "${in_lz}" > int.lz || framework_failure
+		cp "${in_lz}" int.lz || framework_failure
 		printf "${header}${body}" >> int.lz || framework_failure
 		"${LZIP}" -lq int.lz			# trailing data
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO ${header}
@@ -365,7 +408,7 @@ if "${LZIP}" -tq int.lz ; then
 		[ $? = 2 ] || lzlib_1_10		# requires lzlib 1.10
 		"${LZIP}" -cdq int.lz > /dev/null
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO ${header}
-		"${LZIP}" -lq --loose-trailing int.lz ||
+		"${LZIP}" -l --loose-trailing int.lz > /dev/null ||
 			test_failed $LINENO ${header}
 		"${LZIP}" -t --loose-trailing int.lz ||
 			test_failed $LINENO ${header}
@@ -383,7 +426,7 @@ if "${LZIP}" -tq int.lz ; then
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO ${header}
 	done
 else
-	printf "\nwarning: skipping header test: 'printf' does not work on your system."
+	printf "warning: skipping header test: 'printf' does not work on your system."
 fi
 rm -f int.lz || framework_failure
 
@@ -395,9 +438,9 @@ done
 
 cat "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" > in2.lz || framework_failure
 cat "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" "${in_lz}" > in3.lz || framework_failure
-if dd if=in3.lz of=trunc.lz bs=14752 count=1 2> /dev/null &&
-   [ -e trunc.lz ] && cmp in2.lz trunc.lz > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-	for i in 6 20 14734 14753 14754 14755 14756 14757 14758 ; do
+if dd if=in3.lz of=trunc.lz bs=14682 count=1 2> /dev/null &&
+   [ -e trunc.lz ] && cmp in2.lz trunc.lz ; then
+	for i in 6 20 14664 14683 14684 14685 14686 14687 14688 ; do
 		dd if=in3.lz of=trunc.lz bs=$i count=1 2> /dev/null
 		"${LZIP}" -lq trunc.lz
 		[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO $i
@@ -411,11 +454,11 @@ if dd if=in3.lz of=trunc.lz bs=14752 count=1 2> /dev/null &&
 		[ $? = 2 ] || lzlib_1_8			# requires lzlib 1.8
 	done
 else
-	printf "\nwarning: skipping truncation test: 'dd' does not work on your system."
+	printf "warning: skipping truncation test: 'dd' does not work on your system."
 fi
 rm -f in2.lz in3.lz trunc.lz || framework_failure
 
-cat "${in_lz}" > ingin.lz || framework_failure
+cp "${in_lz}" ingin.lz || framework_failure
 printf "g" >> ingin.lz || framework_failure
 cat "${in_lz}" >> ingin.lz || framework_failure
 "${LZIP}" -lq ingin.lz
@@ -424,14 +467,17 @@ cat "${in_lz}" >> ingin.lz || framework_failure
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -atq < ingin.lz
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
-"${LZIP}" -acdq ingin.lz > /dev/null
+"${LZIP}" -acdq ingin.lz
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
-"${LZIP}" -adq < ingin.lz > /dev/null
+"${LZIP}" -adq < ingin.lz
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -tq ingin.lz
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -t < ingin.lz || test_failed $LINENO
-"${LZIP}" -cdq ingin.lz > out
+"${LZIP}" -dq ingin.lz
+[ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
+[ ! -e ingin ] || test_failed $LINENO
+"${LZIP}" -cdq ingin.lz
 [ $? = 2 ] || test_failed $LINENO
 "${LZIP}" -d < ingin.lz > out || test_failed $LINENO
 cmp in out || test_failed $LINENO
diff --git a/testsuite/test.txt b/testsuite/test.txt
index 9196a3a..423f0c0 100644
--- a/testsuite/test.txt
+++ b/testsuite/test.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                        Version 2, June 1991
 
- Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
+ Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
  Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
  of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
 
@@ -339,8 +338,7 @@ Public License instead of this License.
                     GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

                        Version 2, June 1991

 

- Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,

- 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

+ Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>

  Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies

  of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

 

diff --git a/testsuite/test.txt.lz b/testsuite/test.txt.lz
index 22cea6e..5dc169f 100644
--- a/testsuite/test.txt.lz
+++ b/testsuite/test.txt.lz
diff --git a/testsuite/test_em.txt.lz b/testsuite/test_em.txt.lz
deleted file mode 100644
index 7e96250..0000000
--- a/testsuite/test_em.txt.lz
+++ /dev/null