xref: /freebsd/sys/contrib/xz-embedded/README (revision 0b57cec536236d46e3dba9bd041533462f33dbb7)
1
2XZ Embedded
3===========
4
5    XZ Embedded is a relatively small, limited implementation of the .xz
6    file format. Currently only decoding is implemented.
7
8    XZ Embedded was written for use in the Linux kernel, but the code can
9    be easily used in other environments too, including regular userspace
10    applications. See userspace/xzminidec.c for an example program.
11
12    This README contains information that is useful only when the copy
13    of XZ Embedded isn't part of the Linux kernel tree. You should also
14    read linux/Documentation/xz.txt even if you aren't using XZ Embedded
15    as part of Linux; information in that file is not repeated in this
16    README.
17
18Compiling the Linux kernel module
19
20    The xz_dec module depends on crc32 module, so make sure that you have
21    it enabled (CONFIG_CRC32).
22
23    Building the xz_dec and xz_dec_test modules without support for BCJ
24    filters:
25
26        cd linux/lib/xz
27        make -C /path/to/kernel/source \
28                KCPPFLAGS=-I"$(pwd)/../../include" M="$(pwd)" \
29                CONFIG_XZ_DEC=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m
30
31    Building the xz_dec and xz_dec_test modules with support for BCJ
32    filters:
33
34        cd linux/lib/xz
35        make -C /path/to/kernel/source \
36                KCPPFLAGS=-I"$(pwd)/../../include" M="$(pwd)" \
37                CONFIG_XZ_DEC=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_BCJ=y \
38                CONFIG_XZ_DEC_X86=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_POWERPC=y \
39                CONFIG_XZ_DEC_IA64=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_ARM=y \
40                CONFIG_XZ_DEC_ARMTHUMB=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_SPARC=y
41
42    If you want only one or a few of the BCJ filters, omit the appropriate
43    variables. CONFIG_XZ_DEC_BCJ=y is always required to build the support
44    code shared between all BCJ filters.
45
46    Most people don't need the xz_dec_test module. You can skip building
47    it by omitting CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m from the make command line.
48
49Compiler requirements
50
51    XZ Embedded should compile as either GNU-C89 (used in the Linux
52    kernel) or with any C99 compiler. Getting the code to compile with
53    non-GNU C89 compiler or a C++ compiler should be quite easy as
54    long as there is a data type for unsigned 64-bit integer (or the
55    code is modified not to support large files, which needs some more
56    care than just using 32-bit integer instead of 64-bit).
57
58    If you use GCC, try to use a recent version. For example, on x86-32,
59    xz_dec_lzma2.c compiled with GCC 3.3.6 is 15-25 % slower than when
60    compiled with GCC 4.3.3.
61
62Embedding into userspace applications
63
64    To embed the XZ decoder, copy the following files into a single
65    directory in your source code tree:
66
67        linux/include/linux/xz.h
68        linux/lib/xz/xz_crc32.c
69        linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_lzma2.c
70        linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_stream.c
71        linux/lib/xz/xz_lzma2.h
72        linux/lib/xz/xz_private.h
73        linux/lib/xz/xz_stream.h
74        userspace/xz_config.h
75
76    Alternatively, xz.h may be placed into a different directory but then
77    that directory must be in the compiler include path when compiling
78    the .c files.
79
80    Your code should use only the functions declared in xz.h. The rest of
81    the .h files are meant only for internal use in XZ Embedded.
82
83    You may want to modify xz_config.h to be more suitable for your build
84    environment. Probably you should at least skim through it even if the
85    default file works as is.
86
87Integrity check support
88
89    XZ Embedded always supports the integrity check types None and
90    CRC32. Support for CRC64 is optional. SHA-256 is currently not
91    supported in XZ Embedded although the .xz format does support it.
92    The xz tool from XZ Utils uses CRC64 by default, but CRC32 is usually
93    enough in embedded systems to keep the code size smaller.
94
95    If you want support for CRC64, you need to copy linux/lib/xz/xz_crc64.c
96    into your application, and #define XZ_USE_CRC64 in xz_config.h or in
97    compiler flags.
98
99    When using the internal CRC32 or CRC64, their lookup tables need to be
100    initialized with xz_crc32_init() and xz_crc64_init(), respectively.
101    See xz.h for details.
102
103    To use external CRC32 or CRC64 code instead of the code from
104    xz_crc32.c or xz_crc64.c, the following #defines may be used
105    in xz_config.h or in compiler flags:
106
107        #define XZ_INTERNAL_CRC32 0
108        #define XZ_INTERNAL_CRC64 0
109
110    Then it is up to you to provide compatible xz_crc32() or xz_crc64()
111    functions.
112
113    If the .xz file being decompressed uses an integrity check type that
114    isn't supported by XZ Embedded, it is treated as an error and the
115    file cannot be decompressed. For multi-call mode, this can be modified
116    by #defining XZ_DEC_ANY_CHECK. Then xz_dec_run() will return
117    XZ_UNSUPPORTED_CHECK when unsupported check type is detected. After
118    that decompression can be continued normally except that the
119    integrity check won't be verified. In single-call mode there's
120    no way to continue decoding, so XZ_DEC_ANY_CHECK is almost useless
121    in single-call mode.
122
123BCJ filter support
124
125    If you want support for one or more BCJ filters, you need to copy also
126    linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_bcj.c into your application, and use appropriate
127    #defines in xz_config.h or in compiler flags. You don't need these
128    #defines in the code that just uses XZ Embedded via xz.h, but having
129    them always #defined doesn't hurt either.
130
131        #define             Instruction set     BCJ filter endianness
132        XZ_DEC_X86          x86-32 or x86-64    Little endian only
133        XZ_DEC_POWERPC      PowerPC             Big endian only
134        XZ_DEC_IA64         Itanium (IA-64)     Big or little endian
135        XZ_DEC_ARM          ARM                 Little endian only
136        XZ_DEC_ARMTHUMB     ARM-Thumb           Little endian only
137        XZ_DEC_SPARC        SPARC               Big or little endian
138
139    While some architectures are (partially) bi-endian, the endianness
140    setting doesn't change the endianness of the instructions on all
141    architectures. That's why Itanium and SPARC filters work for both big
142    and little endian executables (Itanium has little endian instructions
143    and SPARC has big endian instructions).
144
145    There currently is no filter for little endian PowerPC or big endian
146    ARM or ARM-Thumb. Implementing filters for them can be considered if
147    there is a need for such filters in real-world applications.
148
149Notes about shared libraries
150
151    If you are including XZ Embedded into a shared library, you very
152    probably should rename the xz_* functions to prevent symbol
153    conflicts in case your library is linked against some other library
154    or application that also has XZ Embedded in it (which may even be
155    a different version of XZ Embedded). TODO: Provide an easy way
156    to do this.
157
158    Please don't create a shared library of XZ Embedded itself unless
159    it is fine to rebuild everything depending on that shared library
160    everytime you upgrade to a newer version of XZ Embedded. There are
161    no API or ABI stability guarantees between different versions of
162    XZ Embedded.
163
164