.\"	$OpenBSD: gzexe.1,v 1.3 2005/09/30 06:50:44 otto Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2003 Otto Moerbeek <otto@drijf.net>
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
.\"
.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\"
.Dd July 30, 2003
.Dt GZEXE 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm gzexe
.Nd create auto-decompressing executables
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm gzexe
.Op Fl d
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility uses
.Xr 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
.Sq ~
suffix appended.
After verifying that the compressed executables work as expected, the backup
files can be removed.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl d
Decompress executables previously compressed by
.Nm .
.El
.Pp
The
.Nm
program refuses to compress non-regular or non-executable files,
files with a setuid or setgid bit set, files that are already
compressed using
.Nm ,
files in /bin or /sbin,
or programs it needs to perform on-the-fly decompression:
.Xr sh 1 ,
.Xr basename 1 ,
.Xr mktemp 1 ,
.Xr rm 1 ,
.Xr echo 1 ,
.Xr tail 1 ,
.Xr gzip 1 ,
and
.Xr chmod 1 .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr gzip 1
.Sh CAVEATS
The
.Nm
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.