Info about GNUzip

Some of my bigger files are compressed with a utility called "gzip". It is available for virtually every UNIX system, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, Macintosh,...

Here is the reason why I chose gzip instead of compress (I am on a UNIX box) [Excerpt from a GNU software site]

What format are the *.gz files in?

Because the unix `compress' utility is patented (by two separate patents, in fact), we cannot use it; it's not free software.

Therefore, the GNU Project has chosen a new compression utility, `gzip', which is free of any known software patents and which tends to compress better anyway. As of March 1993, all compressed files in the GNU anonymous FTP area, `prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu', have been converted to the new format. Files compressed with this new compression program end in `.gz' (as opposed to `compress'-compressed files, which end in `.Z').

Gzip can uncompress `compress'-compressed files and `pack'-compressed files (which end in `.z'). This is possible because the various decompression algorithms are not patented---only compression is.

The gzip program is available from any GNU mirror site (see `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FTP' for a list of mirror sites) in shar, tar, or gzipped tar format (for those who already have a prior version of gzip and want faster data transmission). It works on virtually every unix system, MSDOS, OS/2, and VMS.

Dear Netscape Users

If you have trouble using >GNUzip with your version of Netscape then try one of the following:

GNUzip

What format are the *.gz files in?

Dear Netscape Users

How to get gzip