How does one "zip" a folder with Linux .? How does Windows user "unzip" same ?

brjoon1021 · 12-18-2010, 02:49 PM

Hi,

Can you shed some light on:
1. How do I compress or zip a folder in Linux ?
2. How would a windows user open such a folder With Windows ?

I upload images and send them to a Windows user. The images are sent in a folder via yousendit - a large file upload service. Yousendit has a proprietary Windows app that zips the folder for you and sends it from an e-mail like GUI. Nice. No such interface/GUI exists for Linux users; I would need to upload a folder at their website.

I want to start using Linux which means that I need to zip the folders myself while using Linux. My Windows user - the recipient of the folder - is NOT techie. He needs to be able to open the folder that has been compressed in Linux easily.

repo · 12-18-2010, 02:53 PM

Perhaps with the zip command?
http://linux.about.com/od/commands/a/blcmdl1_zipx.htm

Kind regards

honeybadger · 12-18-2010, 03:04 PM

For your friend I would suggest he install 7zip. However you have to be careful about the files. If they are text notepad may open the files and corrupt them. With pictures and vidoes there should be no issues.

archShade · 12-18-2010, 03:37 PM

If you don't like command lines then there a variety of ways and depends on what environment/distro you are using but in general if you copy the files into a directory, using your file manager (nautilus, dolphin, etc..) and then right click on the directory and select compress/archive/zip (whatever is there again depends on environment/distro/file manager). Make sure you select zip file. You should be left with a .zip file which you can read in windows in the normal way.

If you want to use the command line

Code:

zip -r output.zip input_directory1 input_directory2 ...

To learn more about the zip command use man zip.

I agree with silver back that getting people to install 7zip is a good idea, this will allow you to use better compression than zip files. If this solution is ok look up tar.gz and tar.bz compressions.

to find out more type:

Code:

man tar
man gzip
man bzip2

brjoon1021 · 12-18-2010, 04:24 PM

thanks guys.

Any of you using an easy distro that conveniently has "zip" in the right-click menu ? As an aside, this will be a laptop, are there any distros that tend to have better battery life ?

thanks

honeybadger · 12-19-2010, 12:10 AM

Plenty of gui based program to suit you. Xarchiver is my favourate.
As far as batterylife is concerned - I use a program called 'powertop'. This program will point out all the power intensive processes and give you an option to stop them.
Hope this helps.