FreeBSD Guide To Packing and Unpacking WinZip WinRAR tar gz gzip tgz bzip2 xz
Zip, tar, rar is one of the software designed to help you archive and unarchive files efficiently, these utilities are very easy to use. You will be able to get your work done with a few command lines
• Iwan Setiawan UnixShell · 10 mins read
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When using or working with a computer, you often find files in the format .tar .gz .zip or .rar. Files with this format are often called packed or compressed files. Its function is to store many files or folders in one file and compress them so that they are easier to send and require less drive space because the size is smaller than the original file.
Or if you work as a system administrator and have to manage lots of large and small files, you must feel how difficult and annoying the job is. Not only do you have to organize them based on Hard Disk space availability, but you also have to spend a lot of time uploading them to the Internet when you want to send them via SSH, Samba or FTP. You should save time by using packaging software that will keep your files compressed and ready to use at all times.
Zip, tar, rar is one of the software designed to help you archive and unarchive files efficiently, these utilities are very easy to use. You will be able to get your work done with a few command lines. Not only that, this utility is able to move all large files into a compressed folder which has a size smaller than the total size of each file.
The FreeBSD operating system has a built-in function for packing and unpacking these files. If you use a FreeBSD Desktop such as GhostBSD or NomadBSD, it becomes easier to use. But it will be more difficult if you use the shell command. Even though it has a different way of operating, this utility plays a role in making the work of a system administrator easier who every day deals with a large number of files.
In this article, we will explain how to pack and unpack rar zip tar gz gzip tgz bzip2 xz files using the FreeBSD server. So it’s clear enough, you will be dealing a lot with shell commands.
1. Install the Pack and Unpack Application
Before you use this utility, there are several applications that must be installed on the FreeBSD server. There are lots of pack and unpack applications. In this article we will use applications that correspond to file extensions that are commonly used by many people. The first application you have to install is zip.
root@ns3:~ # cd /usr/ports/archivers/zip
root@ns3:/usr/ports/archivers/zip # make install clean
root@ns3:/usr/ports/archivers/zip # cd /usr/ports/archivers/unzip
root@ns3:/usr/ports/archivers/unzip # make install clean
After that you install rar and unrar, if you usually use Windows this application is called Winrar. Run the command below to install Winrar.
root@ns3:/usr/ports/archivers/unzip # pkg install rar unrar
After that you install bzip3.
root@ns3:/usr/ports/archivers/unzip # pkg install bzip3
You don’t need to install all the applications above, use them according to the file type. If you are working with zip files or Winzip install zip and unzip. If you usually use rar files, install rar and unrar. Actually, FreeBSD has a default application that you don’t have to install, namely tar.
2. How to use Winzip on FreeBSD
To make the learning process easier, we will create a new folder in /var called "ExercisePackUnpack". In this folder we will place zip, rar and other files.
root@ns3:~ # mkdir /var/ExercisePackUnpack
root@ns3:~ # cd /var/ExercisePackUnpack
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack #
After you have finished creating the /var/ExercisePackUnpack folder, download the file with the zip extension. Use the fetch command to download the zip file.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # fetch https://github.com/github/codeql/archive/refs/tags/codeql-cli/v2.12.0.zip
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # ls
v2.12.0.zip
Run the unzip command, to extract the v2.12.0.zip file. We will place the extracted file in the "/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultZIP" folder.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # mkdir resultZIP
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # unzip v2.12.0.zip -d /var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultZIP
See the extract results.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # cd resultZIP
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultZIP # ls
codeql-codeql-cli-v2.12.0
Now we will try to pack or compress files/folders. Packing or compressing files or folders into one compact zip file package. When you compress files, the original files will remain in their original location, so you can safely pack them without worrying about losing them or reducing the file size. Run the zip command to pack or compress files.
In this example, the folder that we will pack or compress is called "codeql-codeql-cli-v2.12.0", this folder contains many types of files with a total folder size of around 52,054 KB.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultZIP # zip -r ResultCompress.zip *
View the results with the ls command.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultZIP # ls
ResultCompress.zip codeql-codeql-cli-v2.12.0
3. How to use WinRAR on FreeBSD
WinRAR or RAR files, with the acronym RAR which stands for Roshal Archive, is very famous for compressing and archiving files or folders. Currently RAR files are widely used to store and share large numbers of files efficiently and effectively.
There are many reasons people use RAR files:
- Supports splitting large files into small files without reducing the number and quality of files
- Facilitates archive comments and customizable compression settings
- Using lossless data compression techniques
To start learning about RAR files, you have to download the RAR file that we will practice in this article. We will place the downloaded files in the /var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR folder. Use the fetch command to start downloading the RAR file.
root@ns3:~ # cd /var/ExercisePackUnpack
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # mkdir -p resultRAR
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # cd resultRAR
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR # fetch https://www.rarlab.com/themes/WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar
After you have finished downloading the WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar file, now we will extract the file with the unrar command.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR # unrar e WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar RARresults/
UNRAR 6.24 freeware Copyright (c) 1993-2023 Alexander Roshal
Extracting from WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar
Creating RARresults OK
Extracting RARresults/winrar_theme_description.txt OK
Extracting RARresults/AboutLogo.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Add.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Benchmark.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Comment.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Convert.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Delete.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Estimate.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Exit.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Extract.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/ExtractTo.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Find.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/FolderUp.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Info.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Lock.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Print.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Protect.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/RarSmall.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Repair.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Report.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/SFX.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/SFXLogo.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/SortDown.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/SortUp.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Test.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/View.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/VirusScan.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/Wizard.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/WizardLogo.bmp OK
Extracting RARresults/DragCopy.cur OK
Extracting RARresults/DiskOff.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/DiskOn.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/File.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/PasswordOff.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/PasswordOn.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/RAR.ICO OK
Extracting RARresults/REV.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/Setup.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/SFX.ico OK
Extracting RARresults/Tray.ico OK
All OK
The unrar command above will extract the WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar file and place the extracted file in a new folder called "RARresults". Please open the new folder and see the results using the ls command.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR # cd RARresults
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR/RARresults # ls
AboutLogo.bmp DragCopy.cur Info.bmp RarSmall.bmp SortUp.bmp
Add.bmp Estimate.bmp Lock.bmp Repair.bmp Test.bmp
Benchmark.bmp Exit.bmp PasswordOff.ico Report.bmp Tray.ico
Comment.bmp Extract.bmp PasswordOn.ico SFX.bmp View.bmp
Convert.bmp ExtractTo.bmp Print.bmp SFX.ico VirusScan.bmp
Delete.bmp File.ico Protect.bmp SFXLogo.bmp Wizard.bmp
DiskOff.ico Find.bmp RAR.ICO Setup.ico WizardLogo.bmp
DiskOn.ico FolderUp.bmp REV.ico SortDown.bmp winrar_theme_description.txt
After that, you pack or compress the extracted files with the rar command. Our compressed file is named "Compress_RAR.rar".
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR # rar a Compress_RAR.rar RARresults/
View the results with the ls command.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultRAR # ls
Compress_RAR.rar RARresults WinRAR_Orbital_32x32.theme.rar
4. How to use TAR Command
On FreeBSD systems, the TAR command is used to combine several files into one file. Almost the same as the rar, zip commands. The tar command is an abbreviation for “tape archiving”, which means storing one or more files onto magnetic tape. As usual, before we learn the TAR command, we download the TAR file as practice material.
root@ns3:~ # cd /var/ExercisePackUnpack
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # mkdir -p resultTAR
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack # cd resultTAR
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultTAR # fetch http://www.rarlab.com/rar/rarlinux-x64-5.3.0.tar.gz
rarlinux-x64-5.3.0.tar.gz 1122 kB 632 kBps 02s
After you have finished downloading the rarlinux-x64-5.3.0.tar.gz file, extract the file with the tar command.
root@ns3:/var/ExercisePackUnpack/resultTAR # tar -xzvf rarlinux-x64-5.3.0.tar.gz
The following is an explanation of the options on TAR:
- x : Extract to disk from archive.
- v : Produce verbose output.
- f : file Read archives from or write archives to the specified file.
- z –gunzip, : –gzip Compress the resulting archive with gzip.
- c : Create a new archive containing the specified items.
- j : Compress the resulting archive with bzip2.
With the publication of this article, hopefully you will understand how to use WinZIP and WinRAR and also run the tar command on a FreeBSD server. Packing and compressing files using WinRAR and WinZip is an easy process whether you use the desktop interface or the command line.