NAME

       pdlzip - reduces the size of files

SYNOPSIS

       pdlzip [options] [files]

DESCRIPTION

       Pdlzip  is  a  permissively  licensed  implementation of the lzip data compressor, intended for those who
       can't distribute (or even use) GPL licensed Free Software. The name of pdlzip comes from  'public  domain
       lzip'.  Pdlzip is written in C.

       Lzip is a lossless data compressor with a user interface similar to the one of gzip or bzip2. Lzip uses a
       simplified form of LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain-Algorithm) designed to achieve complete interoperability
       between implementations. The maximum dictionary size is 512 MiB so that any lzip file can be decompressed
       on  32-bit  machines. Lzip provides accurate and robust 3-factor integrity checking. 'lzip -0' compresses
       about as fast as gzip, while 'lzip -9' compresses most files more  than  bzip2.  Decompression  speed  is
       intermediate between gzip and bzip2. Lzip provides better data recovery capabilities than gzip and bzip2.
       Lzip  has been designed, written, and tested with great care to replace gzip and bzip2 as general-purpose
       compressed format for Unix-like systems.

       Pdlzip is also able to decompress legacy lzma-alone (.lzma) files.  Lzma-alone is a very bad  format;  it
       is  essentially  a raw LZMA stream.  If you keep any lzma-alone files, it is advisable to recompress them
       to lzip format. Lziprecover can convert some lzma-alone files to lzip format without recompressing.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
              display this help and exit

       -V, --version
              output version information and exit

       -a, --trailing-error
              exit with error status if trailing data

       -c, --stdout
              write to standard output, keep input files

       -d, --decompress
              decompress, test compressed file integrity

       -f, --force
              overwrite existing output files

       -F, --recompress
              force re-compression of compressed files

       -k, --keep
              keep (don't delete) input files

       -m, --match-length=<bytes>
              set match length limit in bytes [36]

       -o, --output=<file>
              write to <file>, keep input files

       -q, --quiet
              suppress all messages

       -s, --dictionary-size=<bytes>
              set dictionary size limit in bytes [8 MiB]

       -t, --test
              test compressed file integrity

       -v, --verbose
              be verbose (a 2nd -v gives more)

       -0 .. -9
              set compression level [default 6]

       --fast alias for -0

       --best alias for -9

       --loose-trailing
              allow trailing data seeming corrupt header

       If no file names are given, or if a file is '-', pdlzip compresses or decompresses from standard input to
       standard output.  Numbers may be followed by a multiplier: k = kB = 10^3 = 1000, Ki = KiB = 2^10 =  1024,
       M  = 10^6, Mi = 2^20, G = 10^9, Gi = 2^30, etc...  Dictionary sizes 12 to 27 are interpreted as powers of
       two, meaning 2^12 to 2^27 bytes.

       The bidimensional parameter space of LZMA can't be mapped to a linear scale optimal  for  all  files.  If
       your  files  are  large,  very  repetitive,  etc,  you  may need to use the options --dictionary-size and
       --match-length directly to achieve optimal performance. For example, -9m64 usually compresses executables
       more (and faster) than -9.

       To extract all the files from archive 'foo.tar.lz', use the commands 'tar -xf foo.tar.lz' or 'pdlzip  -cd
       foo.tar.lz | tar -xf -'.

       Exit  status:  0  for  a  normal exit, 1 for environmental problems (file not found, invalid command-line
       options, I/O errors, etc), 2 to indicate a corrupt or invalid input file, 3 for an  internal  consistency
       error (e.g., bug) which caused pdlzip to panic.

       Pdlzip includes public domain compression/decompression code from the LZMA SDK (Software Development Kit)
       written by Igor Pavlov.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to lzip-bug@nongnu.org
       Pdlzip home page: http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/pdlzip.html

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2025 Antonio Diaz Diaz.  Public Domain 2009 Igor Pavlov.  License 2-clause BSD.
       This  is  free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent
       permitted by law.

pdlzip 1.14                                       January 2025                                         PDLZIP(1)