xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/compress/doc/README (revision 4f8f43b06ed07e96a250855488cc531799d5b78f)
1
2	@(#)README	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
3
4Compress version 4.0 improvements over 3.0:
5	o compress() speedup (10-50%) by changing division hash to xor
6	o decompress() speedup (5-10%)
7	o Memory requirements reduced (3-30%)
8	o Stack requirements reduced to less than 4kb
9	o Removed 'Big+Fast' compress code (FBITS) because of compress speedup
10    	o Portability mods for Z8000 and PC/XT (but not zeus 3.2)
11	o Default to 'quiet' mode
12	o Unification of 'force' flags
13	o Manual page overhaul
14	o Portability enhancement for M_XENIX
15	o Removed text on #else and #endif
16	o Added "-V" switch to print version and options
17	o Added #defines for SIGNED_COMPARE_SLOW
18	o Added Makefile and "usermem" program
19	o Removed all floating point computations
20	o New programs: [deleted]
21
22The "usermem" script attempts to determine the maximum process size.  Some
23editing of the script may be necessary (see the comments).  [It should work
24fine on 4.3 BSD.] If you can't get it to work at all, just create file
25"USERMEM" containing the maximum process size in decimal.
26
27The following preprocessor symbols control the compilation of "compress.c":
28
29	o USERMEM		Maximum process memory on the system
30	o SACREDMEM		Amount to reserve for other processes
31	o SIGNED_COMPARE_SLOW	Unsigned compare instructions are faster
32	o NO_UCHAR		Don't use "unsigned char" types
33	o BITS			Overrules default set by USERMEM-SACREDMEM
34	o vax			Generate inline assembler
35	o interdata		Defines SIGNED_COMPARE_SLOW
36	o M_XENIX		Makes arrays < 65536 bytes each
37	o pdp11			BITS=12, NO_UCHAR
38	o z8000			BITS=12
39	o pcxt			BITS=12
40	o BSD4_2		Allow long filenames ( > 14 characters) &
41				Call setlinebuf(stderr)
42
43The difference "usermem-sacredmem" determines the maximum BITS that can be
44specified with the "-b" flag.
45
46memory: at least		BITS
47------  -- -----                ----
48     433,484			 16
49     229,600			 15
50     127,536			 14
51      73,464			 13
52           0			 12
53
54The default is BITS=16.
55
56The maximum bits can be overruled by specifying "-DBITS=bits" at
57compilation time.
58
59WARNING: files compressed on a large machine with more bits than allowed by
60a version of compress on a smaller machine cannot be decompressed!  Use the
61"-b12" flag to generate a file on a large machine that can be uncompressed
62on a 16-bit machine.
63
64The output of compress 4.0 is fully compatible with that of compress 3.0.
65In other words, the output of compress 4.0 may be fed into uncompress 3.0 or
66the output of compress 3.0 may be fed into uncompress 4.0.
67
68The output of compress 4.0 not compatible with that of
69compress 2.0.  However, compress 4.0 still accepts the output of
70compress 2.0.  To generate output that is compatible with compress
712.0, use the undocumented "-C" flag.
72
73	-from mod.sources, submitted by vax135!petsd!joe (Joe Orost), 8/1/85
74--------------------------------
75
76Enclosed is compress version 3.0 with the following changes:
77
781.	"Block" compression is performed.  After the BITS run out, the
79	compression ratio is checked every so often.  If it is decreasing,
80	the table is cleared and a new set of substrings are generated.
81
82	This makes the output of compress 3.0 not compatible with that of
83	compress 2.0.  However, compress 3.0 still accepts the output of
84	compress 2.0.  To generate output that is compatible with compress
85	2.0, use the undocumented "-C" flag.
86
872.	A quiet "-q" flag has been added for use by the news system.
88
893.	The character chaining has been deleted and the program now uses
90	hashing.  This improves the speed of the program, especially
91	during decompression.  Other speed improvements have been made,
92	such as using putc() instead of fwrite().
93
944.	A large table is used on large machines when a relatively small
95	number of bits is specified.  This saves much time when compressing
96	for a 16-bit machine on a 32-bit virtual machine.  Note that the
97	speed improvement only occurs when the input file is > 30000
98	characters, and the -b BITS is less than or equal to the cutoff
99	described below.
100
101Most of these changes were made by James A. Woods (ames!jaw).  Thank you
102James!
103
104To compile compress:
105
106	cc -O -DUSERMEM=usermem -o compress compress.c
107
108Where "usermem" is the amount of physical user memory available (in bytes).
109If any physical memory is to be reserved for other processes, put in
110"-DSACREDMEM sacredmem", where "sacredmem" is the amount to be reserved.
111
112The difference "usermem-sacredmem" determines the maximum BITS that can be
113specified, and the cutoff bits where the large+fast table is used.
114
115memory: at least		BITS		cutoff
116------  -- -----                ----            ------
117   4,718,592 			 16		  13
118   2,621,440 			 16		  12
119   1,572,864			 16		  11
120   1,048,576			 16		  10
121     631,808			 16               --
122     329,728			 15               --
123     178,176			 14		  --
124      99,328			 13		  --
125           0			 12		  --
126
127The default memory size is 750,000 which gives a maximum BITS=16 and no
128large+fast table.
129
130The maximum bits can be overruled by specifying "-DBITS=bits" at
131compilation time.
132
133If your machine doesn't support unsigned characters, define "NO_UCHAR"
134when compiling.
135
136If your machine has "int" as 16-bits, define "SHORT_INT" when compiling.
137
138After compilation, move "compress" to a standard executable location, such
139as /usr/local.  Then:
140	cd /usr/local
141	ln compress uncompress
142	ln compress zcat
143
144On machines that have a fixed stack size (such as Perkin-Elmer), set the
145stack to at least 12kb.  ("setstack compress 12" on Perkin-Elmer).
146
147Next, install the manual (compress.l).
148	cp compress.l /usr/man/manl
149	cd /usr/man/manl
150	ln compress.l uncompress.l
151	ln compress.l zcat.l
152
153		- or -
154
155	cp compress.l /usr/man/man1/compress.1
156	cd /usr/man/man1
157	ln compress.1 uncompress.1
158	ln compress.1 zcat.1
159
160					regards,
161					petsd!joe
162
163Here is a note from the net:
164
165>From hplabs!pesnta!amd!turtlevax!ken Sat Jan  5 03:35:20 1985
166Path: ames!hplabs!pesnta!amd!turtlevax!ken
167From: ken@turtlevax.UUCP (Ken Turkowski)
168Newsgroups: net.sources
169Subject: Re: Compress release 3.0 : sample Makefile
170Organization: CADLINC, Inc. @ Menlo Park, CA
171
172In the compress 3.0 source recently posted to mod.sources, there is a
173#define variable which can be set for optimum performance on a machine
174with a large amount of memory.  A program (usermem) to calculate the
175usable amount of physical user memory is enclosed, as well as a sample
1764.2BSD Vax Makefile for compress.
177
178Here is the README file from the previous version of compress (2.0):
179
180>Enclosed is compress.c version 2.0 with the following bugs fixed:
181>
182>1.	The packed files produced by compress are different on different
183>	machines and dependent on the vax sysgen option.
184>		The bug was in the different byte/bit ordering on the
185>		various machines.  This has been fixed.
186>
187>		This version is NOT compatible with the original vax posting
188>		unless the '-DCOMPATIBLE' option is specified to the C
189>		compiler.  The original posting has a bug which I fixed,
190>		causing incompatible files.  I recommend you NOT to use this
191>		option unless you already have a lot of packed files from
192>		the original posting by Thomas.
193>2.	The exit status is not well defined (on some machines) causing the
194>	scripts to fail.
195>		The exit status is now 0,1 or 2 and is documented in
196>		compress.l.
197>3.	The function getopt() is not available in all C libraries.
198>		The function getopt() is no longer referenced by the
199>		program.
200>4.	Error status is not being checked on the fwrite() and fflush() calls.
201>		Fixed.
202>
203>The following enhancements have been made:
204>
205>1.	Added facilities of "compact" into the compress program.  "Pack",
206>	"Unpack", and "Pcat" are no longer required (no longer supplied).
207>2.	Installed work around for C compiler bug with "-O".
208>3.	Added a magic number header (\037\235).  Put the bits specified
209>	in the file.
210>4.	Added "-f" flag to force overwrite of output file.
211>5.	Added "-c" flag and "zcat" program.  'ln compress zcat' after you
212>	compile.
213>6.	The 'uncompress' script has been deleted; simply
214>	'ln compress uncompress' after you compile and it will work.
215>7.	Removed extra bit masking for machines that support unsigned
216>	characters.  If your machine doesn't support unsigned characters,
217>	define "NO_UCHAR" when compiling.
218>
219>Compile "compress.c" with "-O -o compress" flags.  Move "compress" to a
220>standard executable location, such as /usr/local.  Then:
221>	cd /usr/local
222>	ln compress uncompress
223>	ln compress zcat
224>
225>On machines that have a fixed stack size (such as Perkin-Elmer), set the
226>stack to at least 12kb.  ("setstack compress 12" on Perkin-Elmer).
227>
228>Next, install the manual (compress.l).
229>	cp compress.l /usr/man/manl		- or -
230>	cp compress.l /usr/man/man1/compress.1
231>
232>Here is the README that I sent with my first posting:
233>
234>>Enclosed is a modified version of compress.c, along with scripts to make it
235>>run identically to pack(1), unpack(1), and pcat(1).  Here is what I
236>>(petsd!joe) and a colleague (petsd!peora!srd) did:
237>>
238>>1. Removed VAX dependencies.
239>>2. Changed the struct to separate arrays; saves mucho memory.
240>>3. Did comparisons in unsigned, where possible.  (Faster on Perkin-Elmer.)
241>>4. Sorted the character next chain and changed the search to stop
242>>prematurely.  This saves a lot on the execution time when compressing.
243>>
244>>This version is totally compatible with the original version.  Even though
245>>lint(1) -p has no complaints about compress.c, it won't run on a 16-bit
246>>machine, due to the size of the arrays.
247>>
248>>Here is the README file from the original author:
249>>
250>>>Well, with all this discussion about file compression (for news batching
251>>>in particular) going around, I decided to implement the text compression
252>>>algorithm described in the June Computer magazine.  The author claimed
253>>>blinding speed and good compression ratios.  It's certainly faster than
254>>>compact (but, then, what wouldn't be), but it's also the same speed as
255>>>pack, and gets better compression than both of them.  On 350K bytes of
256>>>Unix-wizards, compact took about 8 minutes of CPU, pack took about 80
257>>>seconds, and compress (herein) also took 80 seconds.  But, compact and
258>>>pack got about 30% compression, whereas compress got over 50%.  So, I
259>>>decided I had something, and that others might be interested, too.
260>>>
261>>>As is probably true of compact and pack (although I haven't checked),
262>>>the byte order within a word is probably relevant here, but as long as
263>>>you stay on a single machine type, you should be ok.  (Can anybody
264>>>elucidate on this?)  There are a couple of asm's in the code (extv and
265>>>insv instructions), so anyone porting it to another machine will have to
266>>>deal with this anyway (and could probably make it compatible with Vax
267>>>byte order at the same time).  Anyway, I've linted the code (both with
268>>>and without -p), so it should run elsewhere.  Note the longs in the
269>>>code, you can take these out if you reduce BITS to <= 15.
270>>>
271>>>Have fun, and as always, if you make good enhancements, or bug fixes,
272>>>I'd like to see them.
273>>>
274>>>=Spencer (thomas@utah-20, {harpo,hplabs,arizona}!utah-cs!thomas)
275>>
276>>					regards,
277>>					joe
278>>
279>>--
280>>Full-Name:  Joseph M. Orost
281>>UUCP:       ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!joe
282>>US Mail:    MS 313; Perkin-Elmer; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
283>>Phone:      (201) 870-5844
284