usage: lrzip-fe.sh
Output: A command line you can cut and paste and use Run: lrzip/lrzip-next can be run from inside the program

Since working on lrzip since 2007, a goal has always been to come up with a usable front-end for it.

As options grew, so did complexity. At first I came up with the idea of a configuration file that would be loaded with pre-set options at run-time. This proved very useful to those who discovered it! But many users do not use a configuration file for lrzip/lrzip-next.

lrzip-fe presents a series of cascading menus and choices to help users fully explore the capabilities of:

• Compression
• Decompression
• Testing
• Info
• Change Working Directory

Thats's really all there is to lrzip/lrzip-next -- that is until you peek under the hood.

Version 0.12x of lrzip-next has 52 options. Some are mutually exclusive, (such as -O and -o), other can be combined, but only in some modes. (see file lrzip.options.txt)

A note on lrzip and lrzip-next
lrzip-fe was designed for use with lrzip-next, however, it can be used with the main branch of lrzip as well. Just don't use options that are not available for it. At startup, it will look for both programs with priority for lrzip-next.

lrzip-fe.sh now has the ability to present short or long options for lrzip. Some options, such as FILTERING, only have long options. The selection can be made on the main menu by selecting the Toggle SHORT/LONG Commands button. At any point, you can restart the choices by selecting the Restart button.

If an option is not selected, it is not shown. If an option is not selected and has a default value, the default will silently be used (e.g. lzma compression, versus --lzma). If an lrzip.conf file exists, its options will be silently used unless overridden by current option choices.

lrzip-fe can execute lrzip or tar with lrzip from any of the top level menus. It also incrementally creates an lrzip command line and one with tar as well. lrzip output is contained in a window. No error checking is done on the command line. If a file does not exist, or a command is not fully constructed, either lrzip or tar will return an error. Hopefully, lrzip-fe will enhance your usage and understanding of lrzip.

As options are selected, the current command line for both lrzip and tar are shown at the top of the screen using dialog's --backtitle.

Long Options lrzip backtitle.

Short Options lrzip backtitle.

lrzip-fe exits displaying a screen showing both the lrzip and tar command versions for the options selected.

Long Options lrzip command line.

Short Options lrzip command line.

The tar output for lrzip-fe.sh will ignore most lrzip options. the tar output will include create, extract, list, and verbose options. Embedded lrzip within tar will only have method, level, filter (for lrzip >= 0.7x) and progress. The output tarfile name will have the extension .tar.lrz

If lrzip-next is not run using the RUN COMMAND or RUN TAR COMMAND options, a command has been constructed with lrzip-fe.sh, lrzip-next can be executed one of three ways.

1. just cut and paste the lrzip-next command
2. prepend the lrzip-next command with LRZIP=NOCONFIG to ignore any preset options in lrzip.conf
3. cut and paste the tar command

After copying and pasting, the commandline may be edited to suit.

The dialog program uses ncurses. There are certain things to be aware of. RETURN select OK. TAB moves between sections of a menu. Cursor keys moves between choices SPACE selects an item within a checkbox or radiolist. There may be some other quirks about selection.

Con Kolivas lrzip Thomas Dickey dialog Andrew Tridgell rzip

Your comments and contributions are welcome.

October 2020
October 2023
Peter Hyman, pete@peterhyman.com
https://github.com/pete4abw/lrzip-fe
https://github.com/pete4abw/lrzip-next