| ZLIB DATA COMPRESSION LIBRARY |
| |
| zlib 1.2.5 is a general purpose data compression library. All the code is |
| thread safe. The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFCs |
| (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files |
| http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1950.txt (zlib format), rfc1951.txt (deflate format) |
| and rfc1952.txt (gzip format). |
| |
| All functions of the compression library are documented in the file zlib.h |
| (volunteer to write man pages welcome, contact zlib@gzip.org). A usage example |
| of the library is given in the file example.c which also tests that the library |
| is working correctly. Another example is given in the file minigzip.c. The |
| compression library itself is composed of all source files except example.c and |
| minigzip.c. |
| |
| To compile all files and run the test program, follow the instructions given at |
| the top of Makefile.in. In short "./configure; make test", and if that goes |
| well, "make install" should work for most flavors of Unix. For Windows, use one |
| of the special makefiles in win32/ or contrib/vstudio/ . For VMS, use |
| make_vms.com. |
| |
| Questions about zlib should be sent to <zlib@gzip.org>, or to Gilles Vollant |
| <info@winimage.com> for the Windows DLL version. The zlib home page is |
| http://zlib.net/ . Before reporting a problem, please check this site to |
| verify that you have the latest version of zlib; otherwise get the latest |
| version and check whether the problem still exists or not. |
| |
| PLEASE read the zlib FAQ http://zlib.net/zlib_faq.html before asking for help. |
| |
| Mark Nelson <markn@ieee.org> wrote an article about zlib for the Jan. 1997 |
| issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal; a copy of the article is available at |
| http://marknelson.us/1997/01/01/zlib-engine/ . |
| |
| The changes made in version 1.2.5 are documented in the file ChangeLog. |
| |
| Unsupported third party contributions are provided in directory contrib/ . |
| |
| zlib is available in Java using the java.util.zip package, documented at |
| http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Programming/compression/ . |
| |
| A Perl interface to zlib written by Paul Marquess <pmqs@cpan.org> is available |
| at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites, including |
| http://search.cpan.org/~pmqs/IO-Compress-Zlib/ . |
| |
| A Python interface to zlib written by A.M. Kuchling <amk@amk.ca> is |
| available in Python 1.5 and later versions, see |
| http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-zlib.html . |
| |
| zlib is built into tcl: http://wiki.tcl.tk/4610 . |
| |
| An experimental package to read and write files in .zip format, written on top |
| of zlib by Gilles Vollant <info@winimage.com>, is available in the |
| contrib/minizip directory of zlib. |
| |
| |
| Notes for some targets: |
| |
| - For Windows DLL versions, please see win32/DLL_FAQ.txt |
| |
| - For 64-bit Irix, deflate.c must be compiled without any optimization. With |
| -O, one libpng test fails. The test works in 32 bit mode (with the -n32 |
| compiler flag). The compiler bug has been reported to SGI. |
| |
| - zlib doesn't work with gcc 2.6.3 on a DEC 3000/300LX under OSF/1 2.1 it works |
| when compiled with cc. |
| |
| - On Digital Unix 4.0D (formely OSF/1) on AlphaServer, the cc option -std1 is |
| necessary to get gzprintf working correctly. This is done by configure. |
| |
| - zlib doesn't work on HP-UX 9.05 with some versions of /bin/cc. It works with |
| other compilers. Use "make test" to check your compiler. |
| |
| - gzdopen is not supported on RISCOS or BEOS. |
| |
| - For PalmOs, see http://palmzlib.sourceforge.net/ |
| |
| |
| Acknowledgments: |
| |
| The deflate format used by zlib was defined by Phil Katz. The deflate and |
| zlib specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch. Thanks to all the |
| people who reported problems and suggested various improvements in zlib; they |
| are too numerous to cite here. |
| |
| Copyright notice: |
| |
| (C) 1995-2010 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler |
| |
| This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied |
| warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages |
| arising from the use of this software. |
| |
| Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, |
| including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it |
| freely, subject to the following restrictions: |
| |
| 1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not |
| claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software |
| in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be |
| appreciated but is not required. |
| 2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be |
| misrepresented as being the original software. |
| 3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution. |
| |
| Jean-loup Gailly Mark Adler |
| jloup@gzip.org madler@alumni.caltech.edu |
| |
| If you use the zlib library in a product, we would appreciate *not* receiving |
| lengthy legal documents to sign. The sources are provided for free but without |
| warranty of any kind. The library has been entirely written by Jean-loup |
| Gailly and Mark Adler; it does not include third-party code. |
| |
| If you redistribute modified sources, we would appreciate that you include in |
| the file ChangeLog history information documenting your changes. Please read |
| the FAQ for more information on the distribution of modified source versions. |