=head1 NAME
Compress::Zlib::FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions about Compress::Zlib
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Common questions answered.
=head2 Compatibility with Unix compress/uncompress.
Although C<Compress::Zlib> has a pair of functions called C<compress> and
C<uncompress>, they are I<not> the same as the Unix programs of the same
name. The C<Compress::Zlib> module is not compatible with Unix
C<compress>.
If you have the C<uncompress> program available, you can use this to read
compressed files
open F, "uncompress -c $filename |";
while (<F>)
{
...
Alternatively, if you have the C<gunzip> program available, you can use
this to read compressed files
open F, "gunzip -c $filename |";
while (<F>)
{
...
and this to write compress files, if you have the C<compress> program
available
open F, "| compress -c $filename ";
print F "data";
...
close F ;
=head2 Accessing .tar.Z files
The C<Archive::Tar> module can optionally use C<Compress::Zlib> (via the
C<IO::Zlib> module) to access tar files that have been compressed with
C<gzip>. Unfortunately tar files compressed with the Unix C<compress>
utility cannot be read by C<Compress::Zlib> and so cannot be directly
accesses by C<Archive::Tar>.
If the C<uncompress> or C<gunzip> programs are available, you can use one
of these workarounds to read C<.tar.Z> files from C<Archive::Tar>
Firstly with C<uncompress>
use strict;
use warnings;
use Archive::Tar;
open F, "uncompress -c $filename |";
my $tar = Archive::Tar->new(*F);
...
and this with C<gunzip>
use strict;
use warnings;
use Archive::Tar;
open F, "gunzip -c $filename |";
my $tar = Archive::Tar->new(*F);
...
Similarly, if the C<compress> program is available, you can use this to
write a C<.tar.Z> file
use strict;
use warnings;
use Archive::Tar;
use IO::File;
my $fh = new IO::File "| compress -c >$filename";
my $tar = Archive::Tar->new();
...
$tar->write($fh);
$fh->close ;
=head2 Accessing Zip Files
This module does not support reading/writing zip files.
Limited support for reading/writing zip files is included with the
C<IO::Compress::Zip> and C<IO::Uncompress::Unzip> modules.
A full interface for manipulating zip files is available with the
C<Archive::Zip> module. You can find it on CPAN at
http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Archive/Archive-Zip-*.tar.gz
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<Compress::Zlib>, L<IO::Compress::Gzip>, L<IO::Uncompress::Gunzip>, L<IO::Compress::Deflate>, L<IO::Uncompress::Inflate>, L<IO::Compress::RawDeflate>, L<IO::Uncompress::RawInflate>, L<IO::Compress::Bzip2>, L<IO::Uncompress::Bunzip2>, L<IO::Compress::Lzop>, L<IO::Uncompress::UnLzop>, L<IO::Compress::Lzf>, L<IO::Uncompress::UnLzf>, L<IO::Uncompress::AnyInflate>, L<IO::Uncompress::AnyUncompress>
L<Compress::Zlib::FAQ|Compress::Zlib::FAQ>
L<File::GlobMapper|File::GlobMapper>, L<Archive::Zip|Archive::Zip>,
L<Archive::Tar|Archive::Tar>,
L<IO::Zlib|IO::Zlib>
=head1 AUTHOR
This module was written by Paul Marquess, F<pmqs@cpan.org>.
=head1 MODIFICATION HISTORY
See the Changes file.
=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2005-2007 Paul Marquess. All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.