/usr.bin/gzip/gzexe.1

 1.\"	$NetBSD: gzexe.1,v 1.3 2003/12/28 12:49:41 wiz Exp $
 2.\"	$OpenBSD: gzexe.1,v 1.1 2003/07/31 07:32:47 otto Exp $
 3.\"
 4.\" Copyright (c) 2003 Otto Moerbeek <otto@drijf.net>
 5.\"
 6.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
 7.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
 8.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
 9.\"
10.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
11.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
12.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
13.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
14.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
15.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
16.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
17.\"
18.\" $FreeBSD$
19.Dd January 26, 2007
20.Dt GZEXE 1
21.Os
22.Sh NAME
23.Nm gzexe
24.Nd create auto-decompressing executables
25.Sh SYNOPSIS
26.Nm gzexe
27.Op Fl d
28.Ar
29.Sh DESCRIPTION
30The
31.Nm
32utility uses
33.Xr gzip 1
34to compress executables, producing executables that decompress on-the-fly
35when executed.
36This saves disk space, at the cost of slower execution times.
37The original executables are saved by copying each of them to a file with
38the same name with a
39.Sq ~
40suffix appended.
41After verifying that the compressed executables work as expected, the backup
42files can be removed.
43.Pp
44The options are as follows:
45.Bl -tag -width Ds
46.It Fl d
47Decompress executables previously compressed by
48.Nm .
49.El
50.Pp
51The
52.Nm
53program refuses to compress non-regular or non-executable files,
54files with a setuid or setgid bit set, files that are already
55compressed using
56.Nm
57or programs it needs to perform on-the-fly decompression:
58.Xr sh 1 ,
59.Xr mktemp 1 ,
60.Xr rm 1 ,
61.Xr echo 1 ,
62.Xr tail 1 ,
63.Xr gzip 1 ,
64and
65.Xr chmod 1 .
66.Sh SEE ALSO
67.Xr gzip 1
68.Sh CAVEATS
69The
70.Nm
71utility replaces files by overwriting them with the generated
72compressed executable.
73To be able to do this, it is required that the original files are writable.