gzip , general compression question ??

glenn69 · 10-11-2004, 10:56 AM

I am using gzip to compress a daily backup. When I gzip a file, the file is changed to a .gz file. I would rather not compress the file itself every day. Instead I would like to create a NEW file that is a compressed version of the original (much like winzip does...it makes a new zip file from the original rather than compressing the original) How can I do this?

Or should I be using another compression package?

acid_kewpie · 10-11-2004, 11:02 AM

what's the difference between "a new zip file from the original" and "compressing the original"... ?

glenn69 · 10-11-2004, 11:04 AM

Well I'm just a bit uncomfortable about "changing" the original every day. if something were to go wrong in the compression process, we would be out of luck.

glenn69 · 10-11-2004, 11:08 AM

Also, the file has to be unzipped to be usable on our system. I'd rather not have to compress it, then send it, then uncompress it. Too many chances for data to be corrupted. I may be overreacting, I adimit that.

acid_kewpie · 10-11-2004, 11:48 AM

ooohhhh yuou mean it doesn't leave the original file there? right... personally i'd say use tar instead:

Code:

tar -zcvf file.tar.gz file

this will leave the original file intact.

chrism01 · 10-12-2004, 12:20 AM

From the man page for gzip:

gzip -c file1 > foo.gz

leaves file1 unchanged, creates foo.gz .