1 .\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libz/zlib.3,v 1.3.2.2 2003/02/01 13:33:12 sobomax Exp $
2 .\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libz/Attic/zlib.3,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:26:52 dillon Exp $
4 .TH ZLIB 3 "11 March 2002"
6 zlib \- compression/decompression library
14 library is a general purpose data compression library.
15 The code is thread safe.
16 It provides in-memory compression and decompression functions,
17 including integrity checks of the uncompressed data.
18 This version of the library supports only one compression method (deflation)
19 but other algorithms will be added later and will have the same stream interface.
21 Compression can be done in a single step if the buffers are large enough
22 (for example if an input file is mmap'ed),
23 or can be done by repeated calls of the compression function.
25 the application must provide more input and/or consume the output
26 (providing more output space) before each call.
28 The library also supports reading and writing files in
31 with an interface similar to that of stdio.
33 The library does not install any signal handler.
35 the consistency of the compressed data, so the library should never
36 crash even in case of corrupted input.
38 All functions of the compression library are documented in the file
40 The distribution source includes examples of use of the library
46 A Java implementation of
48 is available in the Java Development Kit 1.1
50 http://www.javasoft.com/products/JDK/1.1/docs/api/Package-java.util.zip.html
54 written by Paul Marquess (pmarquess@bfsec.bt.co.uk)
55 is available at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites,
58 ftp://ftp.cis.ufl.edu/pub/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/Compress/Compress-Zlib*
62 written by A.M. Kuchling <amk@magnet.com>
63 is available from the Python Software Association sites, such as:
65 ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/contrib/Encoding/zlib*.tar.gz
67 Questions about zlib should be sent to:
69 zlib@quest.jpl.nasa.gov
70 or, if this fails, to the author addresses given below.
71 The zlib home page is:
73 http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/zlib/
75 The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFC
76 (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files:
78 ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1950.txt (zlib format)
80 rfc1951.txt (deflate format)
82 rfc1952.txt (gzip format)
84 These documents are also available in other formats from:
86 ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/documents/zlib/zdoc-index.html
89 Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jean-loup Gailly (jloup@gzip.org)
90 and Mark Adler (madler@alumni.caltech.edu).
92 This software is provided "as-is,"
93 without any express or implied warranty.
94 In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
95 arising from the use of this software.
96 See the distribution directory with respect to requirements
97 governing redistribution.
98 The deflate format used by
100 was defined by Phil Katz.
103 specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch.
104 Thanks to all the people who reported problems and suggested various
107 who are too numerous to cite here.
109 UNIX manual page by R. P. C. Rodgers,
110 U.S. National Library of Medicine (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov).