I have two Linux machines and a very large ~1.5GB file on one of them. I want to be able to compress the data on LinuxA and copy the compressed file to LinuxB. Now for the tricky part. When I'm done with the compression/transfer, I still want the original (uncompressed) file to reside on LinuxA.

Is there a command syntax within gzip that essentially copies the data to a compressed file and leaves the original intact?

I could copy the data to LinuxA and compress it there, but would much prefer to transfer the compressed version. I could also copy the file to another location on LinuxA, compress it there, then move it to LinuxB, but that seems so inelegant.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

tar cvzf filename.tgz filename
or
tar -cvzf filename.tgz filename

gzip -c MONSTER > MONSTER.gz

Thanks, cyent. That's exactly what I needed. I don't know why I didn't see that when reading through the man pages....

what on earth is this meant to have to do with programming??? please use the correct forums in future.