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#HELP – .z uncompression

9 messages in this thread

#34647From: Pelle BraendgaardMay 6, 1993 10:09 AM

I got som text files of the ftp site ftp.funet.fi. They have the extension .z (that is a lowercase z). At first I tried using my trusty uncompress (used for .Z files), but it didn't work. I then changed the lowercase 'z' to capital and retried, it now acknowledged the files but said they weren't compressed. Can anyone help me please? What format are they and what decompressor should I use? Pelle Braendgaard Aqua Multimedia, Cardiff, UK

#34652From: Pat AugustineMay 6, 1993 4:38 PM

Pelle, If those files end in lowercase .z, that means they are packed, rather than compressed. You'd need to unpack them. I have no idea if a utility to do so exists on the Amiga. Pack and compress are similar, but different utilities, just as ARC and ZIP are similar, but different compression utilities. Pack is older, and I believe, less used.

#34653From: Pelle BraendgaardMay 6, 1993 5:16 PM

Thanks Pat Pelle Braendgaard Aqua Multimedia, Cardiff, UK

#34658From: Mike SchillerMay 6, 1993 8:25 PM

Pat: See my reply to Pelle. .z is also now used by the gzip program, and chances are thats how his files were made. gzip is available for the Amiga. // -Mike Schiller \X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale

#34667From: Pat AugustineMay 7, 1993 6:27 PM

Mike, gzip? Thats a new one on me! How annoying that they would use the same extender as pack! Is there an easy way to tell them apart? A lot of commercial stuff still uses pack, simply because they know it'll be there on the system. Another extender would've been preferable!

#34670From: Mike SchillerMay 8, 1993 2:53 AM

Pat: Who knows, after all, gzip is a part of the GNU project I believe, what more needs be said? // -Mike Schiller \X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale

#34657From: Mike SchillerMay 6, 1993 8:25 PM

Pelle: If the files have a lowercase .z rather than an uppercase .Z then chances are that they were made with gzip, a program rapidly replacing Compress in the Unix world. There is a version of gzip for the Amiga, and I believe it's available here in the libs. I think the lowercase .z was also once used by a program called pack, but I'm not familiar with it, and chances are that the files you have were made with gzip, rather than pack. // -Mike Schiller \X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale

#34662From: SyndesisMay 7, 1993 8:33 AM

Is 'gzip' like PKzip?

#34669From: Mike SchillerMay 8, 1993 2:53 AM

John: No, it's different. It can only handle one file at a time, and is really much more like Compress/Uncompress/Zcat in usage, as a matter of fact, you can rename it to these names,(even on the Amiga), and it will properly preform the appropriate action. // -Mike Schiller \X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale