Hi, I need assistance regarding to File Compression and Archiving.Just like in windows we use winrar or some people use winzip software to compress the files and keep them in memory stick or another partition so in Linux which programm is best. thanks in advance. smith

If you use the KDE Desktop Environment, ark is the gui application that handles file archiving. Many compression algorithms are supported including zip, arc, arj, rar, bzip, and bzip2, etc. Most Linux distributions include packages for the various compression algorithms (you simply install the appropriate package(s)). Check in your distributions software package manager (there should be an archiving category) to see which are available. HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

Thanks "ernie" for your reply.Well please let me know in shall prompt which compression utility should i use. I does't want to go in GUI mode.

Each of the compression algorithm packages includes a command line utility, so for example if the utility for the bzip2 algorithm is named bzip2, you would call it as bzip2 <arguments>. The traditional (default) archiver for Linux is the tar utility. It does not compress files itself, but works with the gzip algorithm to accomplish that feat. To learn about tar or any other installed command, (from a command prompt) use the man command. To see the tar man page the command would be: man tar HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

Might consider a program that is supported it both windows and linux. Might need to access the files in either. I sure wouldn't bother with compression unless you post to or across web. One advantage with compressed files is that there is a very basic file(s) test when you try to un-compress it. Don't think tar is compression. Isn't it just tape archive, a way to put files end to end in a single file? "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

Jefro said: "Don't think tar is compression. Isn't it just tape archive, a way to put files end to end in a single file?" That is correct, but tar can work in conjunction with gzip to achieve compression within the tar archive, hence the .tar.gz file extension in lieu of .tar Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

thanks for all of your replies.Well i just need to compress a file say "mydata" which is 1 GB .So this should i use gzip.If yes then what will be the syntex? Should be thankfull to you i you kindly write the command. smith.