Denys Vlasenko | 602ce69 | 2010-05-30 03:35:18 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | |
| 2 | XZ Embedded |
| 3 | =========== |
| 4 | |
| 5 | XZ Embedded is a relatively small, limited implementation of the .xz |
| 6 | file format. Currently only decoding is implemented. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | XZ Embedded was written for use in the Linux kernel, but the code can |
| 9 | be easily used in other environments too, including regular userspace |
| 10 | applications. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | This README contains information that is useful only when the copy |
| 13 | of XZ Embedded isn't part of the Linux kernel tree. You should also |
| 14 | read linux/Documentation/xz.txt even if you aren't using XZ Embedded |
| 15 | as part of Linux; information in that file is not repeated in this |
| 16 | README. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Compiling the Linux kernel module |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The xz_dec module depends on crc32 module, so make sure that you have |
| 21 | it enabled (CONFIG_CRC32). |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Building the xz_dec and xz_dec_test modules without support for BCJ |
| 24 | filters: |
| 25 | |
| 26 | cd linux/lib/xz |
| 27 | make -C /path/to/kernel/source \ |
| 28 | KCPPFLAGS=-I"$(pwd)/../../include" M="$(pwd)" \ |
| 29 | CONFIG_XZ_DEC=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Building the xz_dec and xz_dec_test modules with support for BCJ |
| 32 | filters: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | cd linux/lib/xz |
| 35 | make -C /path/to/kernel/source \ |
| 36 | KCPPFLAGS=-I"$(pwd)/../../include" M="$(pwd)" \ |
| 37 | CONFIG_XZ_DEC=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m CONFIG_XZ_DEC_BCJ=y \ |
| 38 | CONFIG_XZ_DEC_X86=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_POWERPC=y \ |
| 39 | CONFIG_XZ_DEC_IA64=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_ARM=y \ |
| 40 | CONFIG_XZ_DEC_ARMTHUMB=y CONFIG_XZ_DEC_SPARC=y |
| 41 | |
| 42 | If you want only one or a few of the BCJ filters, omit the appropriate |
| 43 | variables. CONFIG_XZ_DEC_BCJ=y is always required to build the support |
| 44 | code shared between all BCJ filters. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | Most people don't need the xz_dec_test module. You can skip building |
| 47 | it by omitting CONFIG_XZ_DEC_TEST=m from the make command line. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | Compiler requirements |
| 50 | |
| 51 | XZ Embedded should compile as either GNU-C89 (used in the Linux |
| 52 | kernel) or with any C99 compiler. Getting the code to compile with |
| 53 | non-GNU C89 compiler or a C++ compiler should be quite easy as |
| 54 | long as there is a data type for unsigned 64-bit integer (or the |
| 55 | code is modified not to support large files, which needs some more |
| 56 | care than just using 32-bit integer instead of 64-bit). |
| 57 | |
| 58 | If you use GCC, try to use a recent version. For example, on x86, |
| 59 | xz_dec_lzma2.c compiled with GCC 3.3.6 is 15-25 % slower than when |
| 60 | compiled with GCC 4.3.3. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | Embedding into userspace applications |
| 63 | |
| 64 | To embed the XZ decoder, copy the following files into a single |
| 65 | directory in your source code tree: |
| 66 | |
| 67 | linux/include/linux/xz.h |
| 68 | linux/lib/xz/xz_crc32.c |
| 69 | linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_lzma2.c |
| 70 | linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_stream.c |
| 71 | linux/lib/xz/xz_lzma2.h |
| 72 | linux/lib/xz/xz_private.h |
| 73 | linux/lib/xz/xz_stream.h |
| 74 | userspace/xz_config.h |
| 75 | |
| 76 | Alternatively, xz.h may be placed into a different directory but then |
| 77 | that directory must be in the compiler include path when compiling |
| 78 | the .c files. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | Your code should use only the functions declared in xz.h. The rest of |
| 81 | the .h files are meant only for internal use in XZ Embedded. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | You may want to modify xz_config.h to be more suitable for your build |
| 84 | environment. Probably you should at least skim through it even if the |
| 85 | default file works as is. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | BCJ filter support |
| 88 | |
| 89 | If you want support for one or more BCJ filters, you need to copy also |
| 90 | linux/lib/xz/xz_dec_bcj.c into your application, and use appropriate |
| 91 | #defines in xz_config.h or in compiler flags. You don't need these |
| 92 | #defines in the code that just uses XZ Embedded via xz.h, but having |
| 93 | them always #defined doesn't hurt either. |
| 94 | |
| 95 | #define Instruction set BCJ filter endianness |
| 96 | XZ_DEC_X86 x86 or x86-64 Little endian only |
| 97 | XZ_DEC_POWERPC PowerPC Big endian only |
| 98 | XZ_DEC_IA64 Itanium (IA-64) Big or little endian |
| 99 | XZ_DEC_ARM ARM Little endian only |
| 100 | XZ_DEC_ARMTHUMB ARM-Thumb Little endian only |
| 101 | XZ_DEC_SPARC SPARC Big or little endian |
| 102 | |
| 103 | While some architectures are (partially) bi-endian, the endianness |
| 104 | setting doesn't change the endianness of the instructions on all |
| 105 | architectures. That's why Itanium and SPARC filters work for both big |
| 106 | and little endian executables (Itanium has little endian instructions |
| 107 | and SPARC has big endian instructions). |
| 108 | |
| 109 | There currently is no filter for little endian PowerPC or big endian |
| 110 | ARM or ARM-Thumb. Implementing filters for them can be considered if |
| 111 | there is a need for such filters in real-world applications. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | Notes about shared libraries |
| 114 | |
| 115 | If you are including XZ Embedded into a shared library, you very |
| 116 | probably should rename the xz_* functions to prevent symbol |
| 117 | conflicts in case your library is linked against some other library |
| 118 | or application that also has XZ Embedded in it (which may even be |
| 119 | a different version of XZ Embedded). TODO: Provide an easy way |
| 120 | to do this. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | Please don't create a shared library of XZ Embedded itself unless |
| 123 | it is fine to rebuild everything depending on that shared library |
| 124 | everytime you upgrade to a newer version of XZ Embedded. There are |
| 125 | no API or ABI stability guarantees between different versions of |
| 126 | XZ Embedded. |
| 127 | |
| 128 | Specifying the calling convention |
| 129 | |
| 130 | XZ_FUNC macro was included to support declaring functions with __init |
| 131 | in Linux. Outside Linux, it can be used to specify the calling |
| 132 | convention on systems that support multiple calling conventions. |
| 133 | For example, on Windows, you may make all functions use the stdcall |
| 134 | calling convention by defining XZ_FUNC=__stdcall when building and |
| 135 | using the functions from XZ Embedded. |
| 136 | |