[Zlib-devel] zlib 1.2.4 released!
William A. Rowe Jr.
wrowe at rowe-clan.net
Thu Mar 18 19:02:57 EDT 2010
On 3/17/2010 12:23 AM, Mark Adler wrote:
> William,
>
> Thanks. For DLL you built, is DLL_FAQ.txt in the distribution all still correct? Can you write a README.txt file that says where the user should put the files once they get them in order to make use of them? I would simply use your flat structure for the zip file, but add the two .txt files. Thanks.
DLL_FAQ.txt looks just fine. You are right, if you are confused by the .pdb's,
for example, this package needs a readme :) I also suggest including zlib.3.pdf
and ChangeLog, if the text below is acceptable I'll re-zip and re-sign with these
three additional files.
README-WIN32.txt [or any name other than README, in case they unpack zlib124.zip
on top of this package] might look like the following, based on the critical
portions of README, plus informative notes about this package. I'm presenting
as a psuedo-diff to README, please take careful note of the two '?' edits below,
and offer any edits or comments.
ZLIB DATA COMPRESSION LIBRARY
zlib 1.2.4 is a general purpose data compression library. All the code is
thread safe. The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFCs
(Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1950.txt (zlib format), rfc1951.txt (deflate format)
and rfc1952.txt (gzip format).
+ All functions of the compression library are documented in the file zlib.h
+ (volunteer to write man pages welcome, contact zlib at gzip.org). Two compiled
+ exampes are distributed in this package, example and minigzip. The example_d
+ and minigzip_d programs validate that the zlib1.dll file is working correctly.
+
- A usage example
- of the library is given in the file example.c which also tests that the library
- is working correctly. Another example is given in the file minigzip.c. The
- compression library itself is composed of all source files except example.c and
- minigzip.c.
-
- To compile all files and run the test program, follow the instructions given at
- the top of Makefile.in. In short "./configure; make test", and if that goes
- well, "make install" should work for most flavors of Unix. For Windows, use one
- of the special makefiles in win32/ or projects/ . For VMS, use make_vms.com.
-
? Questions about zlib should be sent to <zlib-devel at zlib.net>. The zlib home page
? is http://zlib.net/ . Before reporting a problem, please check this site to
? verify that you have the latest version of zlib; otherwise get the latest
? version and check whether the problem still exists or not.
? PLEASE read DLL_FAQ.txt, and the the zlib FAQ http://zlib.net/zlib_faq.html
? before asking for help.
- Mark Nelson <markn at ieee.org> wrote an article about zlib for the Jan. 1997
- issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal; a copy of the article is available at
- http://marknelson.us/1997/01/01/zlib-engine/ .
-
- The changes made in version 1.2.4 are documented in the file ChangeLog.
-
- Unsupported third party contributions are provided in directory contrib/ .
-
- zlib is available in Java using the java.util.zip package, documented at
- http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Programming/compression/ .
-
- A Perl interface to zlib written by Paul Marquess <pmqs at cpan.org> is available
- at CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) sites, including
- http://search.cpan.org/~pmqs/IO-Compress-Zlib/ .
-
- A Python interface to zlib written by A.M. Kuchling <amk at amk.ca> is
- available in Python 1.5 and later versions, see
- http://www.python.org/doc/lib/module-zlib.html .
-
- zlib is built into tcl: http://wiki.tcl.tk/4610 .
-
- An experimental package to read and write files in .zip format, written on top
- of zlib by Gilles Vollant <info at winimage.com>, is available in the
- contrib/minizip directory of zlib.
-
-
- Notes for some targets:
-
- - For Windows DLL versions, please see win32/DLL_FAQ.txt
-
- - For 64-bit Irix, deflate.c must be compiled without any optimization. With
- -O, one libpng test fails. The test works in 32 bit mode (with the -n32
- compiler flag). The compiler bug has been reported to SGI.
-
- - zlib doesn't work with gcc 2.6.3 on a DEC 3000/300LX under OSF/1 2.1 it works
- when compiled with cc.
-
- - On Digital Unix 4.0D (formely OSF/1) on AlphaServer, the cc option -std1 is
- necessary to get gzprintf working correctly. This is done by configure.
-
- - zlib doesn't work on HP-UX 9.05 with some versions of /bin/cc. It works with
- other compilers. Use "make test" to check your compiler.
-
- - gzdopen is not supported on RISCOS or BEOS.
-
- - For PalmOs, see http://palmzlib.sourceforge.net/
Manifest:
The package zlib-1.2.4-win32-x86.zip contains the following files:
ChangeLog Changes since previous zlib packages
DLL_FAQ.txt Frequently asked questions about zlib1.dll
zlib.3.pdf Documentation of this library in Adobe Acrobat format
example.exe A statically-bound example (using zlib.lib, not the dll)
example.pdb Symbolic information for debugging example.exe
example_d.exe A zlib1.dll bound example (using zdll.lib)
example_d.pdb Symbolic information for debugging example_d.exe
minigzip.exe A statically-bound test program (using zlib.lib, not the dll)
minigzip.pdb Symbolic information for debugging minigzip.exe
minigzip_d.exe A zlib1.dll bound test program (using zdll.lib)
minigzip_d.pdb Symbolic information for debugging minigzip_d.exe
zlib.h Install these files into the compilers' INCLUDE path to
zconf.h compile programs which use zlib.lib or zdll.lib
zdll.lib Install these files into the compilers' LIB path if linking
zdll.exp a compiled program to the zlib1.dll binary
zlib.lib Install these files into the compilers' LIB path if linking
zlib.pdb a compiled program to the zlib1.dll binary (zlib.pdb ensures
that the resulting program may be debugged)
zlib1.dll Install this binary shared library into the system PATH, or
the program's runtime directory (where the .exe resides)
zlib1.pdb Install in the same directory as zlib1.dll, in order to debug
an application crash using WinDbg or similar tools.
All .pdb files above are entirely optional, but are very useful to a developer
attempting to diagnose program misbehavior or a crash. Many additional
important files for developers can be found in the zlib124.zip source package
available from http://zlib.net/ - review that package's README file for details.
Acknowledgments:
The deflate format used by zlib was defined by Phil Katz. The deflate and
zlib specifications were written by L. Peter Deutsch. Thanks to all the
people who reported problems and suggested various improvements in zlib; they
are too numerous to cite here.
Copyright notice:
(C) 1995-2010 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler
This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.
Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:
1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
Jean-loup Gailly Mark Adler
jloup at gzip.org madler at alumni.caltech.edu
If you use the zlib library in a product, we would appreciate *not* receiving
lengthy legal documents to sign. The sources are provided for free but without
warranty of any kind. The library has been entirely written by Jean-loup
Gailly and Mark Adler; it does not include third-party code.
If you redistribute modified sources, we would appreciate that you include in
the file ChangeLog history information documenting your changes. Please read
the FAQ for more information on the distribution of modified source versions.
More information about the Zlib-devel
mailing list