Using GZip and tar

Introduction to using GZip and tar with BADC products

You will need to use utilities such as gzip and tar to unpack data and software obtained from the BADC. For some datasets, data is supplied in gzipped ASCII files. Software is supplied in tar archives (which are also gzipped). This information should help you get started with these utilities. The complete documentation is contained in the UNIX man pages.

Using gzip
The GNU compression program gzip is widely used. The software can be obtained from software archives if you don't already have it on your local system.
On a Unix system, the program will only uncompress files whose name ends in .gz or -gz. The gzip program reads such files and replaces them with the uncompressed version of the file, with the .gz or -gz removed from the file name. For example, to uncompress a file called global1.data-gz, type:
         gzip -d global.data-gz
and a file global.data will be created. Note that the original file is removed.

Untarring a file
Tar is a UNIX utility, originally used to manipulate tape archives. A tar file can contain an entire directory structure in one file. By untarring the file, the structure is restored. BADC software is often "bundled" into a "zipped" tar file for ease of transfer. You will need to unzip and untar this file in order to use the software.
In order to untar a file global.tar type:
       tar -xvf global.tar
and the directory structure will be recreated on your machine.

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