NAME
gzexe —
create auto-decompressing
executables
SYNOPSIS
gzexe |
[-d] file ... |
DESCRIPTION
The gzexe utility uses
gzip(1) to
compress executables, producing executables that decompress on-the-fly when
executed. This saves disk space, at the cost of slower execution times. The
original executables are saved by copying each of them to a file with the
same name with a ‘~’ suffix appended. After verifying that the
compressed executables work as expected, the backup files can be
removed.
The options are as follows:
-d- Decompress executables previously compressed by
gzexe.
The gzexe program refuses to compress
non-regular or non-executable files, files with a setuid or setgid bit set,
files that are already compressed using gzexe or
programs it needs to perform on-the-fly decompression:
sh(1),
mktemp(1),
rm(1),
echo(1),
tail(1),
gzip(1), and
chmod(1).
SEE ALSO
CAVEATS
The gzexe utility replaces files by
overwriting them with the generated compressed executable. To be able to do
this, it is required that the original files are writable.