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-rw-r--r--doc/plzip.122
-rw-r--r--doc/plzip.info206
-rw-r--r--doc/plzip.texi211
3 files changed, 352 insertions, 87 deletions
diff --git a/doc/plzip.1 b/doc/plzip.1
index 01f4e36..5a61596 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.1
+++ b/doc/plzip.1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.46.1.
-.TH PLZIP "1" "July 2015" "plzip 1.4" "User Commands"
+.TH PLZIP "1" "May 2016" "plzip 1.5" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
plzip \- reduces the size of files
.SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -15,11 +15,14 @@ display this help and exit
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.TP
+\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-trailing\-error\fR
+exit with error status if trailing data
+.TP
\fB\-B\fR, \fB\-\-data\-size=\fR<bytes>
set size of input data blocks [2x8=16 MiB]
.TP
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-stdout\fR
-send output to standard output
+write to standard output, keep input files
.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-decompress\fR
decompress
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ set match length limit in bytes [36]
set number of (de)compression threads [2]
.TP
\fB\-o\fR, \fB\-\-output=\fR<file>
-if reading stdin, place the output into <file>
+if reading standard input, write to <file>
.TP
\fB\-q\fR, \fB\-\-quiet\fR
suppress all messages
@@ -63,13 +66,16 @@ alias for \fB\-0\fR
\fB\-\-best\fR
alias for \fB\-9\fR
.PP
-If no file names are given, plzip compresses or decompresses
-from standard input to standard output.
+If no file names are given, or if a file is '\-', plzip compresses or
+decompresses from standard input to standard output.
Numbers may be followed by a multiplier: k = kB = 10^3 = 1000,
Ki = KiB = 2^10 = 1024, M = 10^6, Mi = 2^20, G = 10^9, Gi = 2^30, etc...
+Dictionary sizes 12 to 29 are interpreted as powers of two, meaning 2^12
+to 2^29 bytes.
+.PP
The bidimensional parameter space of LZMA can't be mapped to a linear
scale optimal for all files. If your files are large, very repetitive,
-etc, you may need to use the \fB\-\-match\-length\fR and \fB\-\-dictionary\-size\fR
+etc, you may need to use the \fB\-\-dictionary\-size\fR and \fB\-\-match\-length\fR
options directly to achieve optimal performance.
.PP
Exit status: 0 for a normal exit, 1 for environmental problems (file
@@ -83,8 +89,8 @@ Plzip home page: http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/plzip.html
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2009 Laszlo Ersek.
.br
-Copyright \(co 2015 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
-Using lzlib 1.7
+Copyright \(co 2016 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
+Using lzlib 1.8
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.
diff --git a/doc/plzip.info b/doc/plzip.info
index 474db91..a814b3f 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.info
+++ b/doc/plzip.info
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ File: plzip.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir)
Plzip Manual
************
-This manual is for Plzip (version 1.4, 9 July 2015).
+This manual is for Plzip (version 1.5, 14 May 2016).
* Menu:
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@ This manual is for Plzip (version 1.4, 9 July 2015).
* File format:: Detailed format of the compressed file
* 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) 2009-2015 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
+ Copyright (C) 2009-2016 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
This manual is free documentation: you have unlimited permission to
copy, distribute and modify it.
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ availability:
recovery means. The lziprecover program can repair bit-flip errors
(one of the most common forms of data corruption) in lzip files,
and provides data recovery capabilities, including error-checked
- merging of damaged copies of a file. *note Data safety:
+ merging of damaged copies of a file. *Note Data safety:
(lziprecover)Data safety.
* The lzip format is as simple as possible (but not simpler). The
@@ -115,13 +117,6 @@ two or more compressed files. The result is the concatenation of the
corresponding uncompressed files. Integrity testing of concatenated
compressed files is also supported.
- WARNING! Even if plzip is bug-free, other causes may result in a
-corrupt compressed file (bugs in the system libraries, memory errors,
-etc). Therefore, if the data you are going to compress are important,
-give the '--keep' option to plzip and do not remove the original file
-until you verify the compressed file with a command like
-'plzip -cd file.lz | cmp file -'.
-

File: plzip.info, Node: Invoking plzip, Next: Program design, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
@@ -132,6 +127,10 @@ The format for running plzip is:
plzip [OPTIONS] [FILES]
+'-' used as a FILE argument means standard input. It can be mixed with
+other FILES and is read just once, the first time it appears in the
+command line.
+
Plzip supports the following options:
'-h'
@@ -142,6 +141,13 @@ The format for running plzip is:
'--version'
Print the version number of plzip on the standard output and exit.
+'-a'
+'--trailing-error'
+ Exit with error status 2 if any remaining input is detected after
+ decompressing the last member. Such remaining input is usually
+ trailing garbage that can be safely ignored. *Note
+ concat-example::.
+
'-B BYTES'
'--data-size=BYTES'
Set the size of the input data blocks, in bytes. The input file
@@ -153,12 +159,17 @@ The format for running plzip is:
'-c'
'--stdout'
- Compress or decompress to standard output. Needed when reading
- from a named pipe (fifo) or from a device.
+ Compress or decompress to standard output; keep input files
+ unchanged. If compressing several files, each file is compressed
+ independently. This option is needed when reading from a named
+ pipe (fifo) or from a device.
'-d'
'--decompress'
- Decompress.
+ Decompress the specified file(s). If a file does not exist or
+ can't be opened, plzip continues decompressing the rest of the
+ files. If a file fails to decompress, plzip exits immediately
+ without decompressing the rest of the files.
'-f'
'--force'
@@ -207,12 +218,13 @@ The format for running plzip is:
'-s BYTES'
'--dictionary-size=BYTES'
- Set the dictionary size limit in bytes. Valid values range from 4
- KiB to 512 MiB. Plzip will use the smallest possible dictionary
- size for each file without exceeding this limit. Note that
- dictionary sizes are quantized. If the specified size does not
- match one of the valid sizes, it will be rounded upwards by adding
- up to (BYTES / 16) to it.
+ Set the dictionary size limit in bytes. Plzip will use the smallest
+ possible dictionary size for each file without exceeding this
+ limit. Valid values range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB. Values 12 to 29
+ are interpreted as powers of two, meaning 2^12 to 2^29 bytes. Note
+ that dictionary sizes are quantized. If the specified size does
+ not match one of the valid sizes, it will be rounded upwards by
+ adding up to (BYTES / 8) to it.
For maximum compression you should use a dictionary size limit as
large as possible, but keep in mind that the decompression memory
@@ -224,7 +236,8 @@ The format for running plzip is:
Check integrity of the specified file(s), but don't decompress
them. This really performs a trial decompression and throws away
the result. Use it together with '-v' to see information about
- the file.
+ the file(s). If a file fails the test, plzip may be unable to
+ check the rest of the files.
'-v'
'--verbose'
@@ -237,14 +250,14 @@ The format for running plzip is:
'-0 .. -9'
Set the compression parameters (dictionary size and match length
- limit) as shown in the table below. Note that '-9' can be much
- slower than '-0'. These options have no effect when decompressing.
+ limit) as shown in the table below. The default compression level
+ is '-6'. Note that '-9' can be much slower than '-0'. These
+ options have no effect when decompressing.
The bidimensional parameter space of LZMA can't be mapped to a
linear scale optimal for all files. If your files are large, very
- repetitive, etc, you may need to use the '--match-length' and
- '--dictionary-size' options directly to achieve optimal
- performance.
+ repetitive, etc, you may need to use the '--dictionary-size' and
+ '--match-length' options directly to achieve optimal performance.
Level Dictionary size Match length limit
-0 64 KiB 16 bytes
@@ -292,7 +305,7 @@ File: plzip.info, Node: Program design, Next: File format, Prev: Invoking plz
When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and
compresses as many chunks simultaneously as worker threads are chosen,
-creating a multi-member compressed file.
+creating a multimember compressed file.
When decompressing, plzip decompresses as many members
simultaneously as worker threads are chosen. Files that were compressed
@@ -348,12 +361,12 @@ additional information before, between, or after them.
Each member has the following structure:
+--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| ID string | VN | DS | Lzma stream | CRC32 | Data size | Member size |
+| ID string | VN | DS | LZMA stream | CRC32 | Data size | Member size |
+--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
All multibyte values are stored in little endian order.
-'ID string'
+'ID string (the "magic" bytes)'
A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value
"LZIP" (0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
@@ -371,8 +384,8 @@ additional information before, between, or after them.
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
+'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.
@@ -386,7 +399,7 @@ additional information before, between, or after them.
Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field
acts as a distributed index, allows the verification of stream
integrity, and facilitates safe recovery of undamaged members from
- multi-member files.
+ multimember files.

@@ -408,7 +421,7 @@ following:
file, or for testing of a regular file; the dictionary size.
(Note that regular files with more than 1024 bytes of trailing
- garbage are treated as non-seekable).
+ data are treated as non-seekable).
* For testing of a non-seekable file or of standard input; the
dictionary size plus up to 5 MiB.
@@ -420,14 +433,14 @@ following:
dictionary size plus up to 35 MiB.

-File: plzip.info, Node: Minimum file sizes, Next: Problems, 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
********************************************************
When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and
compresses as many chunks simultaneously as worker threads are chosen,
-creating a multi-member compressed file.
+creating a multimember compressed file.
For this to work as expected (and roughly multiply the compression
speed by the number of available processors), the uncompressed file
@@ -456,9 +469,106 @@ Level
-9 128 MiB 256 MiB 512 MiB 1 GiB 4 GiB 16 GiB

-File: plzip.info, Node: Problems, Next: Concept index, Prev: Minimum file sizes, Up: Top
+File: plzip.info, Node: Trailing data, Next: Examples, Prev: Minimum file sizes, Up: Top
+
+7 Extra data appended to the file
+*********************************
+
+Sometimes extra data is found appended to a lzip file after the last
+member. Such trailing data may be:
+
+ * Padding added to make the file size a multiple of some block size,
+ for example when writing to a tape.
+
+ * Garbage added by some not totally successful copy operation.
+
+ * Useful data added by the user; a cryptographically secure hash, a
+ description of file contents, etc.
+
+ * Malicious data added to the file in order to make its total size
+ and hash value (for a chosen hash) coincide with those of another
+ file.
+
+ * In very rare cases, trailing data could be the corrupt header of
+ another member. In multimember or concatenated files the
+ probability of corruption happening in the magic bytes is 5 times
+ smaller than the probability of getting a false positive caused by
+ the corruption of the integrity information itself. Therefore it
+ can be considered to be below the noise level.
+
+ Trailing data can be safely ignored in most cases. In some cases,
+like that of user-added data, it is expected to be ignored. In those
+cases where a file containing trailing data must be rejected, the option
+'--trailing-error' can be used. *Note --trailing-error::.
+
+
+File: plzip.info, Node: Examples, Next: Problems, Prev: Trailing data, Up: Top
+
+8 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).
+Therefore, if the data you are going to compress are important, give the
+'--keep' option to plzip and don't remove the original file until you
+verify the compressed file with a command like
+'plzip -cd file.lz | cmp file -'.
+
+
+Example 1: Replace a regular file with its compressed version 'file.lz'
+and show the compression ratio.
+
+ plzip -v file
+
+
+Example 2: Like example 1 but the created 'file.lz' has a block size of
+1 MiB. The compression ratio is not shown.
+
+ plzip -B 1MiB file
+
+
+Example 3: Restore a regular file from its compressed version
+'file.lz'. If the operation is successful, 'file.lz' is removed.
+
+ plzip -d file.lz
+
+
+Example 4: Verify the integrity of the compressed file 'file.lz' and
+show status.
+
+ plzip -tv file.lz
+
+
+Example 5: Compress a whole device in /dev/sdc and send the output to
+'file.lz'.
+
+ plzip -c /dev/sdc > file.lz
+
+
+Example 6: The right way of concatenating compressed files. *Note
+Trailing data::.
+
+ Don't do this
+ cat file1.lz file2.lz file3.lz | plzip -d
+ 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 10000
+to decompressed byte 15000 (5000 bytes are produced).
+
+ plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1000 skip=10 count=5
+
+
+File: plzip.info, Node: Problems, Next: Concept index, Prev: Examples, Up: Top
-7 Reporting bugs
+9 Reporting bugs
****************
There are probably bugs in plzip. There are certainly errors and
@@ -480,6 +590,7 @@ Concept index
* Menu:
* bugs: Problems. (line 6)
+* examples: Examples. (line 6)
* file format: File format. (line 6)
* getting help: Problems. (line 6)
* introduction: Introduction. (line 6)
@@ -488,6 +599,7 @@ Concept index
* minimum file sizes: Minimum file sizes. (line 6)
* options: Invoking plzip. (line 6)
* program design: Program design. (line 6)
+* trailing data: Trailing data. (line 6)
* usage: Invoking plzip. (line 6)
* version: Invoking plzip. (line 6)
@@ -495,15 +607,19 @@ Concept index

Tag Table:
Node: Top221
-Node: Introduction984
-Node: Invoking plzip5332
-Ref: --data-size5747
-Node: Program design10972
-Node: File format12560
-Node: Memory requirements14973
-Node: Minimum file sizes16085
-Node: Problems18007
-Node: Concept index18543
+Node: Introduction1101
+Node: Invoking plzip5078
+Ref: --trailing-error5647
+Ref: --data-size5890
+Node: Program design11683
+Node: File format13270
+Node: Memory requirements15702
+Node: Minimum file sizes16811
+Node: Trailing data18737
+Node: Examples20121
+Ref: concat-example21286
+Node: Problems21823
+Node: Concept index22349

End Tag Table
diff --git a/doc/plzip.texi b/doc/plzip.texi
index e13515a..c459cde 100644
--- a/doc/plzip.texi
+++ b/doc/plzip.texi
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
@finalout
@c %**end of header
-@set UPDATED 9 July 2015
-@set VERSION 1.4
+@set UPDATED 14 May 2016
+@set VERSION 1.5
@dircategory Data Compression
@direntry
@@ -41,12 +41,14 @@ This manual is for Plzip (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}).
* File format:: Detailed format of the compressed file
* 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
-Copyright @copyright{} 2009-2015 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
+Copyright @copyright{} 2009-2016 Antonio Diaz Diaz.
This manual is free documentation: you have unlimited permission
to copy, distribute and modify it.
@@ -83,7 +85,7 @@ program can repair bit-flip errors (one of the most common forms of data
corruption) in lzip files, and provides data recovery capabilities,
including error-checked merging of damaged copies of a file.
@ifnothtml
-@ref{Data safety,,,lziprecover}.
+@xref{Data safety,,,lziprecover}.
@end ifnothtml
@item
@@ -144,13 +146,6 @@ or more compressed files. The result is the concatenation of the
corresponding uncompressed files. Integrity testing of concatenated
compressed files is also supported.
-WARNING! Even if plzip is bug-free, other causes may result in a corrupt
-compressed file (bugs in the system libraries, memory errors, etc).
-Therefore, if the data you are going to compress are important, give the
-@samp{--keep} option to plzip and do not remove the original file until
-you verify the compressed file with a command like
-@w{@samp{plzip -cd file.lz | cmp file -}}.
-
@node Invoking plzip
@chapter Invoking plzip
@@ -165,6 +160,11 @@ The format for running plzip is:
plzip [@var{options}] [@var{files}]
@end example
+@noindent
+@samp{-} used as a @var{file} 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.
+
Plzip supports the following options:
@table @code
@@ -176,6 +176,13 @@ Print an informative help message describing the options and exit.
@itemx --version
Print the version number of plzip on the standard output and exit.
+@anchor{--trailing-error}
+@item -a
+@itemx --trailing-error
+Exit with error status 2 if any remaining input is detected after
+decompressing the last member. Such remaining input is usually trailing
+garbage that can be safely ignored. @xref{concat-example}.
+
@anchor{--data-size}
@item -B @var{bytes}
@itemx --data-size=@var{bytes}
@@ -188,12 +195,17 @@ data size.
@item -c
@itemx --stdout
-Compress or decompress to standard output. Needed when reading from a
-named pipe (fifo) or from a device.
+Compress or decompress to standard output; keep input files unchanged.
+If compressing several files, each file is compressed independently.
+This option is needed when reading from a named pipe (fifo) or from a
+device.
@item -d
@itemx --decompress
-Decompress.
+Decompress the specified file(s). If a file does not exist or can't be
+opened, plzip continues decompressing the rest of the files. If a file
+fails to decompress, plzip exits immediately without decompressing the
+rest of the files.
@item -f
@itemx --force
@@ -238,11 +250,13 @@ Quiet operation. Suppress all messages.
@item -s @var{bytes}
@itemx --dictionary-size=@var{bytes}
-Set the dictionary size limit in bytes. Valid values range from 4 KiB to
-512 MiB. Plzip will use the smallest possible dictionary size for each
-file without exceeding this limit. Note that dictionary sizes are
-quantized. If the specified size does not match one of the valid sizes,
-it will be rounded upwards by adding up to (@var{bytes} / 16) to it.
+Set the dictionary size limit in bytes. Plzip will use the smallest
+possible dictionary size for each file without exceeding this limit.
+Valid values range from 4 KiB to 512 MiB. Values 12 to 29 are
+interpreted as powers of two, meaning 2^12 to 2^29 bytes. Note that
+dictionary sizes are quantized. If the specified size does not match one
+of the valid sizes, it will be rounded upwards by adding up to
+@w{(@var{bytes} / 8)} to it.
For maximum compression you should use a dictionary size limit as large
as possible, but keep in mind that the decompression memory requirement
@@ -252,7 +266,9 @@ is affected at compression time by the choice of dictionary size limit.
@itemx --test
Check integrity of the specified file(s), but don't decompress them.
This really performs a trial decompression and throws away the result.
-Use it together with @samp{-v} to see information about the file.
+Use it together with @samp{-v} to see information about the file(s). If
+a file fails the test, plzip may be unable to check the rest of the
+files.
@item -v
@itemx --verbose
@@ -265,14 +281,14 @@ decompressed size, and compressed size.
@item -0 .. -9
Set the compression parameters (dictionary size and match length limit)
-as shown in the table below. Note that @samp{-9} can be much slower than
-@samp{-0}. These options have no effect when decompressing.
+as shown in the table below. The default compression level is @samp{-6}.
+Note that @samp{-9} can be much slower than @samp{-0}. These options
+have no effect when decompressing.
The bidimensional parameter space of LZMA can't be mapped to a linear
scale optimal for all files. If your files are large, very repetitive,
-etc, you may need to use the @samp{--match-length} and
-@samp{--dictionary-size} options directly to achieve optimal
-performance.
+etc, you may need to use the @samp{--dictionary-size} and
+@samp{--match-length} options directly to achieve optimal performance.
@multitable {Level} {Dictionary size} {Match length limit}
@item Level @tab Dictionary size @tab Match length limit
@@ -324,7 +340,7 @@ caused plzip to panic.
When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and
compresses as many chunks simultaneously as worker threads are chosen,
-creating a multi-member compressed file.
+creating a multimember compressed file.
When decompressing, plzip decompresses as many members simultaneously as
worker threads are chosen. Files that were compressed with lzip will not
@@ -383,14 +399,14 @@ additional information before, between, or after them.
Each member has the following structure:
@verbatim
+--+--+--+--+----+----+=============+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-| ID string | VN | DS | Lzma stream | CRC32 | Data size | Member size |
+| 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
+@item ID string (the "magic" bytes)
A four byte string, identifying the lzip format, with the value "LZIP"
(0x4C, 0x5A, 0x49, 0x50).
@@ -407,8 +423,8 @@ 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
+@item LZMA stream
+The LZMA stream, finished by an end of stream marker. Uses default
values for encoder properties.
@ifnothtml
@xref{Stream format,,,lzip},
@@ -428,7 +444,7 @@ Size of the uncompressed original data.
@item Member size (8 bytes)
Total size of the member, including header and trailer. This field acts
as a distributed index, allows the verification of stream integrity, and
-facilitates safe recovery of undamaged members from multi-member files.
+facilitates safe recovery of undamaged members from multimember files.
@end table
@@ -453,8 +469,8 @@ times the data size. Default is 136 MiB.
For decompression of a regular (seekable) file to another regular file,
or for testing of a regular file; the dictionary size.
-(Note that regular files with more than 1024 bytes of trailing garbage
-are treated as non-seekable).
+(Note that regular files with more than 1024 bytes of trailing data are
+treated as non-seekable).
@item
For testing of a non-seekable file or of standard input; the dictionary
@@ -476,7 +492,7 @@ dictionary size plus up to 35 MiB.
When compressing, plzip divides the input file into chunks and
compresses as many chunks simultaneously as worker threads are chosen,
-creating a multi-member compressed file.
+creating a multimember compressed file.
For this to work as expected (and roughly multiply the compression speed
by the number of available processors), the uncompressed file must be at
@@ -506,6 +522,133 @@ data size for each level:
@end multitable
+@node Trailing data
+@chapter Extra data appended to the file
+@cindex trailing data
+
+Sometimes extra data is found appended to a lzip file after the last
+member. Such trailing data may be:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Padding added to make the file size a multiple of some block size, for
+example when writing to a tape.
+
+@item
+Garbage added by some not totally successful copy operation.
+
+@item
+Useful data added by the user; a cryptographically secure hash, a
+description of file contents, etc.
+
+@item
+Malicious data added to the file in order to make its total size and
+hash value (for a chosen hash) coincide with those of another file.
+
+@item
+In very rare cases, trailing data could be the corrupt header of another
+member. In multimember or concatenated files the probability of
+corruption happening in the magic bytes is 5 times smaller than the
+probability of getting a false positive caused by the corruption of the
+integrity information itself. Therefore it can be considered to be below
+the noise level.
+@end itemize
+
+Trailing data can be safely ignored in most cases. In some cases, like
+that of user-added data, it is expected to be ignored. In those cases
+where a file containing trailing data must be rejected, the option
+@samp{--trailing-error} can be used. @xref{--trailing-error}.
+
+
+@node Examples
+@chapter A small tutorial with examples
+@cindex 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).
+Therefore, if the data you are going to compress are important, give the
+@samp{--keep} option to plzip and don't remove the original file until
+you verify the compressed file with a command like
+@w{@samp{plzip -cd file.lz | cmp file -}}.
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 1: Replace a regular file with its compressed version
+@samp{file.lz} and show the compression ratio.
+
+@example
+plzip -v file
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 2: Like example 1 but the created @samp{file.lz} has a block
+size of 1 MiB. The compression ratio is not shown.
+
+@example
+plzip -B 1MiB file
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 3: Restore a regular file from its compressed version
+@samp{file.lz}. If the operation is successful, @samp{file.lz} is
+removed.
+
+@example
+plzip -d file.lz
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 4: Verify the integrity of the compressed file @samp{file.lz}
+and show status.
+
+@example
+plzip -tv file.lz
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 5: Compress a whole device in /dev/sdc and send the output to
+@samp{file.lz}.
+
+@example
+plzip -c /dev/sdc > file.lz
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@anchor{concat-example}
+@noindent
+Example 6: The right way of concatenating compressed files.
+@xref{Trailing data}.
+
+@example
+Don't do this
+ cat file1.lz file2.lz file3.lz | plzip -d
+Do this instead
+ plzip -cd file1.lz file2.lz file3.lz
+@end example
+
+@sp 1
+@noindent
+Example 7: Decompress @samp{file.lz} partially until 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
+10000 to decompressed byte 15000 (5000 bytes are produced).
+
+@example
+plzip -cd file.lz | dd bs=1000 skip=10 count=5
+@end example
+
+
@node Problems
@chapter Reporting bugs
@cindex bugs