	VMSLZ.HLPMThe files VMSLZ1.ARC, VMSLZ2.ARC, and VMSLZ3.ARC contain an adaptation of the9Unix 'compress' program to VAX/VMS by Martin Minow of DECN(minow%rex.dec@decwrl.arpa), as submitted to the DECUS library.  The files areKin DOS-ARC format, which can be picked apart by a VMS program call TARC.EXEK(which we don't have), or can be easily decomposed with a text editor.  TheJUnix compress program was originally written by Spencer Thomas, et al., toOimplement the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) file compression algorithm (as described by TerryIWelch in IEEE Computer V17 #6, whose initial is sometimes appended to theLacronym to make it LZW), which replaces common strings of bytes with compactNcodes in a single pass over a file in a deterministic manner.  The VMS versionNof this facility adds knowledge of FILES-11/RMS file structure, and compressesMrecord-oriented files together with their attributes, restoring them to their!original form upon decompression.The files are:NVMSLZ1.ARC - contains a readme file, plus 3 pieces of the compression program./VMSLZ2.ARC - decompression program, in 3 piecesNVMSLZ3.ARC - header files, common functions, makefile, formatted documentationLThe archive format is strictly textual, with each file beginning with a lineof the form %-h- filename     date-time     originMThe LZ programs are written in C, and can be compiled with VAX-11 C, DECUS C,@or under Unix.  The VMS-specific features are switch-selectable.JNote that the ARC format described above is not the same as the MS-DOS ARCEformat, in which multiple files are archived into a single file, eachKcompressed by the most appropriate algorithm (run-length, Huffman, or LZW).[End of VMSLZ.HLP]