bzip2 and libbzip2, version 1.0.6

This interface provides services for compressing and decompressing data in memory. There's no provision for dealing with files, streams or any other I/O mechanisms, just straight memory-to-memory work. In fact, this part of the library can be compiled without inclusion of stdio.h, which may be helpful for embedded applications.

The low-level part of the library has no global variables and is therefore thread-safe.

Six routines make up the low level interface: BZ2_bzCompressInit, BZ2_bzCompress, and BZ2_bzCompressEnd for compression, and a corresponding trio BZ2_bzDecompressInit, BZ2_bzDecompress and BZ2_bzDecompressEnd for decompression. The *Init functions allocate memory for compression/decompression and do other initialisations, whilst the *End functions close down operations and release memory.

The real work is done by BZ2_bzCompress and BZ2_bzDecompress. These compress and decompress data from a user-supplied input buffer to a user-supplied output buffer. These buffers can be any size; arbitrary quantities of data are handled by making repeated calls to these functions. This is a flexible mechanism allowing a consumer-pull style of activity, or producer-push, or a mixture of both.

This interface provides some handy wrappers around the low-level interface to facilitate reading and writing bzip2 format files (.bz2 files). The routines provide hooks to facilitate reading files in which the bzip2 data stream is embedded within some larger-scale file structure, or where there are multiple bzip2 data streams concatenated end-to-end.

For reading files, BZ2_bzReadOpen, BZ2_bzRead, BZ2_bzReadClose and BZ2_bzReadGetUnused are supplied. For writing files, BZ2_bzWriteOpen, BZ2_bzWrite and BZ2_bzWriteFinish are available.

As with the low-level library, no global variables are used so the library is per se thread-safe. However, if I/O errors occur whilst reading or writing the underlying compressed files, you may have to consult errno to determine the cause of the error. In that case, you'd need a C library which correctly supports errno in a multithreaded environment.

To make the library a little simpler and more portable, BZ2_bzReadOpen and BZ2_bzWriteOpen require you to pass them file handles (FILE*s) which have previously been opened for reading or writing respectively. That avoids portability problems associated with file operations and file attributes, whilst not being much of an imposition on the programmer.

For very simple needs, BZ2_bzBuffToBuffCompress and BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress are provided. These compress data in memory from one buffer to another buffer in a single function call. You should assess whether these functions fulfill your memory-to-memory compression/decompression requirements before investing effort in understanding the more general but more complex low-level interface.

Yoshioka Tsuneo (tsuneo@rr.iij4u.or.jp) has contributed some functions to give better zlib compatibility. These functions are BZ2_bzopen, BZ2_bzread, BZ2_bzwrite, BZ2_bzflush, BZ2_bzclose, BZ2_bzerror and BZ2_bzlibVersion. You may find these functions more convenient for simple file reading and writing, than those in the high-level interface. These functions are not (yet) officially part of the library, and are minimally documented here. If they break, you get to keep all the pieces. I hope to document them properly when time permits.

Yoshioka also contributed modifications to allow the library to be built as a Windows DLL.

typedef struct {
  char *next_in;
  unsigned int avail_in;
  unsigned int total_in_lo32;
  unsigned int total_in_hi32;

  char *next_out;
  unsigned int avail_out;
  unsigned int total_out_lo32;
  unsigned int total_out_hi32;

  void *state;

  void *(*bzalloc)(void *,int,int);
  void (*bzfree)(void *,void *);
  void *opaque;
} bz_stream;

int BZ2_bzCompressInit ( bz_stream *strm, 
                         int blockSize100k, 
                         int verbosity,
                         int workFactor );

Prepares for compression. The bz_stream structure holds all data pertaining to the compression activity. A bz_stream structure should be allocated and initialised prior to the call. The fields of bz_stream comprise the entirety of the user-visible data. state is a pointer to the private data structures required for compression.

Custom memory allocators are supported, via fields bzalloc, bzfree, and opaque. The value opaque is passed to as the first argument to all calls to bzalloc and bzfree, but is otherwise ignored by the library. The call bzalloc ( opaque, n, m ) is expected to return a pointer p to n * m bytes of memory, and bzfree ( opaque, p ) should free that memory.

If you don't want to use a custom memory allocator, set bzalloc, bzfree and opaque to NULL, and the library will then use the standard malloc / free routines.

Before calling BZ2_bzCompressInit, fields bzalloc, bzfree and opaque should be filled appropriately, as just described. Upon return, the internal state will have been allocated and initialised, and total_in_lo32, total_in_hi32, total_out_lo32 and total_out_hi32 will have been set to zero. These four fields are used by the library to inform the caller of the total amount of data passed into and out of the library, respectively. You should not try to change them. As of version 1.0, 64-bit counts are maintained, even on 32-bit platforms, using the _hi32 fields to store the upper 32 bits of the count. So, for example, the total amount of data in is (total_in_hi32 << 32) + total_in_lo32.

Parameter blockSize100k specifies the block size to be used for compression. It should be a value between 1 and 9 inclusive, and the actual block size used is 100000 x this figure. 9 gives the best compression but takes most memory.

Parameter verbosity should be set to a number between 0 and 4 inclusive. 0 is silent, and greater numbers give increasingly verbose monitoring/debugging output. If the library has been compiled with -DBZ_NO_STDIO, no such output will appear for any verbosity setting.

Parameter workFactor controls how the compression phase behaves when presented with worst case, highly repetitive, input data. If compression runs into difficulties caused by repetitive data, the library switches from the standard sorting algorithm to a fallback algorithm. The fallback is slower than the standard algorithm by perhaps a factor of three, but always behaves reasonably, no matter how bad the input.

Lower values of workFactor reduce the amount of effort the standard algorithm will expend before resorting to the fallback. You should set this parameter carefully; too low, and many inputs will be handled by the fallback algorithm and so compress rather slowly, too high, and your average-to-worst case compression times can become very large. The default value of 30 gives reasonable behaviour over a wide range of circumstances.

Allowable values range from 0 to 250 inclusive. 0 is a special case, equivalent to using the default value of 30.

Note that the compressed output generated is the same regardless of whether or not the fallback algorithm is used.

Be aware also that this parameter may disappear entirely in future versions of the library. In principle it should be possible to devise a good way to automatically choose which algorithm to use. Such a mechanism would render the parameter obsolete.

Possible return values:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if strm is NULL 
  or blockSize < 1 or blockSize > 9
  or verbosity < 0 or verbosity > 4
  or workFactor < 0 or workFactor > 250
BZ_MEM_ERROR 
  if not enough memory is available
BZ_OK 
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzCompress
  if BZ_OK is returned
  no specific action needed in case of error

int BZ2_bzCompress ( bz_stream *strm, int action );

Provides more input and/or output buffer space for the library. The caller maintains input and output buffers, and calls BZ2_bzCompress to transfer data between them.

Before each call to BZ2_bzCompress, next_in should point at the data to be compressed, and avail_in should indicate how many bytes the library may read. BZ2_bzCompress updates next_in, avail_in and total_in to reflect the number of bytes it has read.

Similarly, next_out should point to a buffer in which the compressed data is to be placed, with avail_out indicating how much output space is available. BZ2_bzCompress updates next_out, avail_out and total_out to reflect the number of bytes output.

You may provide and remove as little or as much data as you like on each call of BZ2_bzCompress. In the limit, it is acceptable to supply and remove data one byte at a time, although this would be terribly inefficient. You should always ensure that at least one byte of output space is available at each call.

A second purpose of BZ2_bzCompress is to request a change of mode of the compressed stream.

Conceptually, a compressed stream can be in one of four states: IDLE, RUNNING, FLUSHING and FINISHING. Before initialisation (BZ2_bzCompressInit) and after termination (BZ2_bzCompressEnd), a stream is regarded as IDLE.

Upon initialisation (BZ2_bzCompressInit), the stream is placed in the RUNNING state. Subsequent calls to BZ2_bzCompress should pass BZ_RUN as the requested action; other actions are illegal and will result in BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR.

At some point, the calling program will have provided all the input data it wants to. It will then want to finish up -- in effect, asking the library to process any data it might have buffered internally. In this state, BZ2_bzCompress will no longer attempt to read data from next_in, but it will want to write data to next_out. Because the output buffer supplied by the user can be arbitrarily small, the finishing-up operation cannot necessarily be done with a single call of BZ2_bzCompress.

Instead, the calling program passes BZ_FINISH as an action to BZ2_bzCompress. This changes the stream's state to FINISHING. Any remaining input (ie, next_in[0 .. avail_in-1]) is compressed and transferred to the output buffer. To do this, BZ2_bzCompress must be called repeatedly until all the output has been consumed. At that point, BZ2_bzCompress returns BZ_STREAM_END, and the stream's state is set back to IDLE. BZ2_bzCompressEnd should then be called.

Just to make sure the calling program does not cheat, the library makes a note of avail_in at the time of the first call to BZ2_bzCompress which has BZ_FINISH as an action (ie, at the time the program has announced its intention to not supply any more input). By comparing this value with that of avail_in over subsequent calls to BZ2_bzCompress, the library can detect any attempts to slip in more data to compress. Any calls for which this is detected will return BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR. This indicates a programming mistake which should be corrected.

Instead of asking to finish, the calling program may ask BZ2_bzCompress to take all the remaining input, compress it and terminate the current (Burrows-Wheeler) compression block. This could be useful for error control purposes. The mechanism is analogous to that for finishing: call BZ2_bzCompress with an action of BZ_FLUSH, remove output data, and persist with the BZ_FLUSH action until the value BZ_RUN is returned. As with finishing, BZ2_bzCompress detects any attempt to provide more input data once the flush has begun.

Once the flush is complete, the stream returns to the normal RUNNING state.

This all sounds pretty complex, but isn't really. Here's a table which shows which actions are allowable in each state, what action will be taken, what the next state is, and what the non-error return values are. Note that you can't explicitly ask what state the stream is in, but nor do you need to -- it can be inferred from the values returned by BZ2_bzCompress.

IDLE/any
  Illegal.  IDLE state only exists after BZ2_bzCompressEnd or
  before BZ2_bzCompressInit.
  Return value = BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR

RUNNING/BZ_RUN
  Compress from next_in to next_out as much as possible.
  Next state = RUNNING
  Return value = BZ_RUN_OK

RUNNING/BZ_FLUSH
  Remember current value of next_in. Compress from next_in
  to next_out as much as possible, but do not accept any more input.
  Next state = FLUSHING
  Return value = BZ_FLUSH_OK

RUNNING/BZ_FINISH
  Remember current value of next_in. Compress from next_in
  to next_out as much as possible, but do not accept any more input.
  Next state = FINISHING
  Return value = BZ_FINISH_OK

FLUSHING/BZ_FLUSH
  Compress from next_in to next_out as much as possible, 
  but do not accept any more input.
  If all the existing input has been used up and all compressed
  output has been removed
    Next state = RUNNING; Return value = BZ_RUN_OK
  else
    Next state = FLUSHING; Return value = BZ_FLUSH_OK

FLUSHING/other     
  Illegal.
  Return value = BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR

FINISHING/BZ_FINISH
  Compress from next_in to next_out as much as possible,
  but to not accept any more input.  
  If all the existing input has been used up and all compressed
  output has been removed
    Next state = IDLE; Return value = BZ_STREAM_END
  else
    Next state = FINISHING; Return value = BZ_FINISH_OK

FINISHING/other
  Illegal.
  Return value = BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR

That still looks complicated? Well, fair enough. The usual sequence of calls for compressing a load of data is:

If the data you want to compress fits into your input buffer all at once, you can skip the calls of BZ2_bzCompress ( ..., BZ_RUN ) and just do the BZ2_bzCompress ( ..., BZ_FINISH ) calls.

All required memory is allocated by BZ2_bzCompressInit. The compression library can accept any data at all (obviously). So you shouldn't get any error return values from the BZ2_bzCompress calls. If you do, they will be BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR, and indicate a bug in your programming.

Trivial other possible return values:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if strm is NULL, or strm->s is NULL

int BZ2_bzCompressEnd ( bz_stream *strm );

Releases all memory associated with a compression stream.

Possible return values:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR  if strm is NULL or strm->s is NULL
BZ_OK           otherwise

int BZ2_bzDecompressInit ( bz_stream *strm, int verbosity, int small );

Prepares for decompression. As with BZ2_bzCompressInit, a bz_stream record should be allocated and initialised before the call. Fields bzalloc, bzfree and opaque should be set if a custom memory allocator is required, or made NULL for the normal malloc / free routines. Upon return, the internal state will have been initialised, and total_in and total_out will be zero.

For the meaning of parameter verbosity, see BZ2_bzCompressInit.

If small is nonzero, the library will use an alternative decompression algorithm which uses less memory but at the cost of decompressing more slowly (roughly speaking, half the speed, but the maximum memory requirement drops to around 2300k). See How to use bzip2 for more information on memory management.

Note that the amount of memory needed to decompress a stream cannot be determined until the stream's header has been read, so even if BZ2_bzDecompressInit succeeds, a subsequent BZ2_bzDecompress could fail with BZ_MEM_ERROR.

Possible return values:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if ( small != 0 && small != 1 )
  or (verbosity <; 0 || verbosity > 4)
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory is available

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzDecompress
  if BZ_OK was returned
  no specific action required in case of error

int BZ2_bzDecompress ( bz_stream *strm );

Provides more input and/out output buffer space for the library. The caller maintains input and output buffers, and uses BZ2_bzDecompress to transfer data between them.

Before each call to BZ2_bzDecompress, next_in should point at the compressed data, and avail_in should indicate how many bytes the library may read. BZ2_bzDecompress updates next_in, avail_in and total_in to reflect the number of bytes it has read.

Similarly, next_out should point to a buffer in which the uncompressed output is to be placed, with avail_out indicating how much output space is available. BZ2_bzCompress updates next_out, avail_out and total_out to reflect the number of bytes output.

You may provide and remove as little or as much data as you like on each call of BZ2_bzDecompress. In the limit, it is acceptable to supply and remove data one byte at a time, although this would be terribly inefficient. You should always ensure that at least one byte of output space is available at each call.

Use of BZ2_bzDecompress is simpler than BZ2_bzCompress.

You should provide input and remove output as described above, and repeatedly call BZ2_bzDecompress until BZ_STREAM_END is returned. Appearance of BZ_STREAM_END denotes that BZ2_bzDecompress has detected the logical end of the compressed stream. BZ2_bzDecompress will not produce BZ_STREAM_END until all output data has been placed into the output buffer, so once BZ_STREAM_END appears, you are guaranteed to have available all the decompressed output, and BZ2_bzDecompressEnd can safely be called.

If case of an error return value, you should call BZ2_bzDecompressEnd to clean up and release memory.

Possible return values:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if strm is NULL or strm->s is NULL
  or strm->avail_out < 1
BZ_DATA_ERROR
  if a data integrity error is detected in the compressed stream
BZ_DATA_ERROR_MAGIC
  if the compressed stream doesn't begin with the right magic bytes
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if there wasn't enough memory available
BZ_STREAM_END
  if the logical end of the data stream was detected and all
  output in has been consumed, eg s-->avail_out > 0
BZ_OK
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzDecompress
  if BZ_OK was returned
BZ2_bzDecompressEnd
  otherwise

int BZ2_bzDecompressEnd ( bz_stream *strm );

Releases all memory associated with a decompression stream.

Possible return values:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if strm is NULL or strm->s is NULL
BZ_OK
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

  None.

typedef void BZFILE;

BZFILE *BZ2_bzReadOpen( int *bzerror, FILE *f, 
                        int verbosity, int small,
                        void *unused, int nUnused );

Prepare to read compressed data from file handle f. f should refer to a file which has been opened for reading, and for which the error indicator (ferror(f))is not set. If small is 1, the library will try to decompress using less memory, at the expense of speed.

For reasons explained below, BZ2_bzRead will decompress the nUnused bytes starting at unused, before starting to read from the file f. At most BZ_MAX_UNUSED bytes may be supplied like this. If this facility is not required, you should pass NULL and 0 for unused and nUnused respectively.

For the meaning of parameters small and verbosity, see BZ2_bzDecompressInit.

The amount of memory needed to decompress a file cannot be determined until the file's header has been read. So it is possible that BZ2_bzReadOpen returns BZ_OK but a subsequent call of BZ2_bzRead will return BZ_MEM_ERROR.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if f is NULL
  or small is neither 0 nor 1
  or ( unused == NULL && nUnused != 0 )
  or ( unused != NULL && !(0 <= nUnused <= BZ_MAX_UNUSED) )
BZ_IO_ERROR
  if ferror(f) is nonzero
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory is available
BZ_OK
  otherwise.

Possible return values:

Pointer to an abstract BZFILE
  if bzerror is BZ_OK
NULL
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzRead
  if bzerror is BZ_OK
BZ2_bzClose
  otherwise

int BZ2_bzRead ( int *bzerror, BZFILE *b, void *buf, int len );

Reads up to len (uncompressed) bytes from the compressed file b into the buffer buf. If the read was successful, bzerror is set to BZ_OK and the number of bytes read is returned. If the logical end-of-stream was detected, bzerror will be set to BZ_STREAM_END, and the number of bytes read is returned. All other bzerror values denote an error.

BZ2_bzRead will supply len bytes, unless the logical stream end is detected or an error occurs. Because of this, it is possible to detect the stream end by observing when the number of bytes returned is less than the number requested. Nevertheless, this is regarded as inadvisable; you should instead check bzerror after every call and watch out for BZ_STREAM_END.

Internally, BZ2_bzRead copies data from the compressed file in chunks of size BZ_MAX_UNUSED bytes before decompressing it. If the file contains more bytes than strictly needed to reach the logical end-of-stream, BZ2_bzRead will almost certainly read some of the trailing data before signalling BZ_SEQUENCE_END. To collect the read but unused data once BZ_SEQUENCE_END has appeared, call BZ2_bzReadGetUnused immediately before BZ2_bzReadClose.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if b is NULL or buf is NULL or len < 0
BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR
  if b was opened with BZ2_bzWriteOpen
BZ_IO_ERROR
  if there is an error reading from the compressed file
BZ_UNEXPECTED_EOF
  if the compressed file ended before 
  the logical end-of-stream was detected
BZ_DATA_ERROR
  if a data integrity error was detected in the compressed stream
BZ_DATA_ERROR_MAGIC
  if the stream does not begin with the requisite header bytes 
  (ie, is not a bzip2 data file).  This is really 
  a special case of BZ_DATA_ERROR.
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory was available
BZ_STREAM_END
  if the logical end of stream was detected.
BZ_OK
  otherwise.

Possible return values:

number of bytes read
  if bzerror is BZ_OK or BZ_STREAM_END
undefined
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

collect data from buf, then BZ2_bzRead or BZ2_bzReadClose
  if bzerror is BZ_OK
collect data from buf, then BZ2_bzReadClose or BZ2_bzReadGetUnused
  if bzerror is BZ_SEQUENCE_END
BZ2_bzReadClose
  otherwise

void BZ2_bzReadGetUnused( int* bzerror, BZFILE *b, 
                          void** unused, int* nUnused );

Returns data which was read from the compressed file but was not needed to get to the logical end-of-stream. *unused is set to the address of the data, and *nUnused to the number of bytes. *nUnused will be set to a value between 0 and BZ_MAX_UNUSED inclusive.

This function may only be called once BZ2_bzRead has signalled BZ_STREAM_END but before BZ2_bzReadClose.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if b is NULL
  or unused is NULL or nUnused is NULL
BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR
  if BZ_STREAM_END has not been signalled
  or if b was opened with BZ2_bzWriteOpen
BZ_OK
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzReadClose

void BZ2_bzReadClose ( int *bzerror, BZFILE *b );

Releases all memory pertaining to the compressed file b. BZ2_bzReadClose does not call fclose on the underlying file handle, so you should do that yourself if appropriate. BZ2_bzReadClose should be called to clean up after all error situations.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR
  if b was opened with BZ2_bzOpenWrite
BZ_OK
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

none

BZFILE *BZ2_bzWriteOpen( int *bzerror, FILE *f, 
                         int blockSize100k, int verbosity,
                         int workFactor );

Prepare to write compressed data to file handle f. f should refer to a file which has been opened for writing, and for which the error indicator (ferror(f))is not set.

For the meaning of parameters blockSize100k, verbosity and workFactor, see BZ2_bzCompressInit.

All required memory is allocated at this stage, so if the call completes successfully, BZ_MEM_ERROR cannot be signalled by a subsequent call to BZ2_bzWrite.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if f is NULL
  or blockSize100k < 1 or blockSize100k > 9
BZ_IO_ERROR
  if ferror(f) is nonzero
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory is available
BZ_OK
  otherwise

Possible return values:

Pointer to an abstract BZFILE
  if bzerror is BZ_OK
NULL
  otherwise

Allowable next actions:

BZ2_bzWrite
  if bzerror is BZ_OK
  (you could go directly to BZ2_bzWriteClose, but this would be pretty pointless)
BZ2_bzWriteClose
  otherwise

void BZ2_bzWrite ( int *bzerror, BZFILE *b, void *buf, int len );

Absorbs len bytes from the buffer buf, eventually to be compressed and written to the file.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if b is NULL or buf is NULL or len < 0
BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR
  if b was opened with BZ2_bzReadOpen
BZ_IO_ERROR
  if there is an error writing the compressed file.
BZ_OK
  otherwise

void BZ2_bzWriteClose( int *bzerror, BZFILE* f,
                       int abandon,
                       unsigned int* nbytes_in,
                       unsigned int* nbytes_out );

void BZ2_bzWriteClose64( int *bzerror, BZFILE* f,
                         int abandon,
                         unsigned int* nbytes_in_lo32,
                         unsigned int* nbytes_in_hi32,
                         unsigned int* nbytes_out_lo32,
                         unsigned int* nbytes_out_hi32 );

Compresses and flushes to the compressed file all data so far supplied by BZ2_bzWrite. The logical end-of-stream markers are also written, so subsequent calls to BZ2_bzWrite are illegal. All memory associated with the compressed file b is released. fflush is called on the compressed file, but it is not fclose'd.

If BZ2_bzWriteClose is called to clean up after an error, the only action is to release the memory. The library records the error codes issued by previous calls, so this situation will be detected automatically. There is no attempt to complete the compression operation, nor to fflush the compressed file. You can force this behaviour to happen even in the case of no error, by passing a nonzero value to abandon.

If nbytes_in is non-null, *nbytes_in will be set to be the total volume of uncompressed data handled. Similarly, nbytes_out will be set to the total volume of compressed data written. For compatibility with older versions of the library, BZ2_bzWriteClose only yields the lower 32 bits of these counts. Use BZ2_bzWriteClose64 if you want the full 64 bit counts. These two functions are otherwise absolutely identical.

Possible assignments to bzerror:

BZ_SEQUENCE_ERROR
  if b was opened with BZ2_bzReadOpen
BZ_IO_ERROR
  if there is an error writing the compressed file
BZ_OK
  otherwise

The high-level library facilitates use of bzip2 data streams which form some part of a surrounding, larger data stream.

This mechanism makes it easy to decompress multiple bzip2 streams placed end-to-end. As the end of one stream, when BZ2_bzRead returns BZ_STREAM_END, call BZ2_bzReadGetUnused to collect the unused data (copy it into your own buffer somewhere). That data forms the start of the next compressed stream. To start uncompressing that next stream, call BZ2_bzReadOpen again, feeding in the unused data via the unused / nUnused parameters. Keep doing this until BZ_STREAM_END return coincides with the physical end of file (feof(f)). In this situation BZ2_bzReadGetUnused will of course return no data.

This should give some feel for how the high-level interface can be used. If you require extra flexibility, you'll have to bite the bullet and get to grips with the low-level interface.

Here's how you'd write data to a compressed file:

FILE*   f;
BZFILE* b;
int     nBuf;
char    buf[ /* whatever size you like */ ];
int     bzerror;
int     nWritten;

f = fopen ( "myfile.bz2", "w" );
if ( !f ) {
 /* handle error */
}
b = BZ2_bzWriteOpen( &bzerror, f, 9 );
if (bzerror != BZ_OK) {
 BZ2_bzWriteClose ( b );
 /* handle error */
}

while ( /* condition */ ) {
 /* get data to write into buf, and set nBuf appropriately */
 nWritten = BZ2_bzWrite ( &bzerror, b, buf, nBuf );
 if (bzerror == BZ_IO_ERROR) { 
   BZ2_bzWriteClose ( &bzerror, b );
   /* handle error */
 }
}

BZ2_bzWriteClose( &bzerror, b );
if (bzerror == BZ_IO_ERROR) {
 /* handle error */
}

And to read from a compressed file:

FILE*   f;
BZFILE* b;
int     nBuf;
char    buf[ /* whatever size you like */ ];
int     bzerror;
int     nWritten;

f = fopen ( "myfile.bz2", "r" );
if ( !f ) {
  /* handle error */
}
b = BZ2_bzReadOpen ( &bzerror, f, 0, NULL, 0 );
if ( bzerror != BZ_OK ) {
  BZ2_bzReadClose ( &bzerror, b );
  /* handle error */
}

bzerror = BZ_OK;
while ( bzerror == BZ_OK && /* arbitrary other conditions */) {
  nBuf = BZ2_bzRead ( &bzerror, b, buf, /* size of buf */ );
  if ( bzerror == BZ_OK ) {
    /* do something with buf[0 .. nBuf-1] */
  }
}
if ( bzerror != BZ_STREAM_END ) {
   BZ2_bzReadClose ( &bzerror, b );
   /* handle error */
} else {
   BZ2_bzReadClose ( &bzerror, b );
}

int BZ2_bzBuffToBuffCompress( char*         dest,
                              unsigned int* destLen,
                              char*         source,
                              unsigned int  sourceLen,
                              int           blockSize100k,
                              int           verbosity,
                              int           workFactor );

Attempts to compress the data in source[0 .. sourceLen-1] into the destination buffer, dest[0 .. *destLen-1]. If the destination buffer is big enough, *destLen is set to the size of the compressed data, and BZ_OK is returned. If the compressed data won't fit, *destLen is unchanged, and BZ_OUTBUFF_FULL is returned.

Compression in this manner is a one-shot event, done with a single call to this function. The resulting compressed data is a complete bzip2 format data stream. There is no mechanism for making additional calls to provide extra input data. If you want that kind of mechanism, use the low-level interface.

For the meaning of parameters blockSize100k, verbosity and workFactor, see BZ2_bzCompressInit.

To guarantee that the compressed data will fit in its buffer, allocate an output buffer of size 1% larger than the uncompressed data, plus six hundred extra bytes.

BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress will not write data at or beyond dest[*destLen], even in case of buffer overflow.

Possible return values:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if dest is NULL or destLen is NULL
  or blockSize100k < 1 or blockSize100k > 9
  or verbosity < 0 or verbosity > 4
  or workFactor < 0 or workFactor > 250
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory is available 
BZ_OUTBUFF_FULL
  if the size of the compressed data exceeds *destLen
BZ_OK
  otherwise

int BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress( char*         dest,
                                unsigned int* destLen,
                                char*         source,
                                unsigned int  sourceLen,
                                int           small,
                                int           verbosity );

Attempts to decompress the data in source[0 .. sourceLen-1] into the destination buffer, dest[0 .. *destLen-1]. If the destination buffer is big enough, *destLen is set to the size of the uncompressed data, and BZ_OK is returned. If the compressed data won't fit, *destLen is unchanged, and BZ_OUTBUFF_FULL is returned.

source is assumed to hold a complete bzip2 format data stream. BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress tries to decompress the entirety of the stream into the output buffer.

For the meaning of parameters small and verbosity, see BZ2_bzDecompressInit.

Because the compression ratio of the compressed data cannot be known in advance, there is no easy way to guarantee that the output buffer will be big enough. You may of course make arrangements in your code to record the size of the uncompressed data, but such a mechanism is beyond the scope of this library.

BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress will not write data at or beyond dest[*destLen], even in case of buffer overflow.

Possible return values:

BZ_CONFIG_ERROR
  if the library has been mis-compiled
BZ_PARAM_ERROR
  if dest is NULL or destLen is NULL
  or small != 0 && small != 1
  or verbosity < 0 or verbosity > 4
BZ_MEM_ERROR
  if insufficient memory is available 
BZ_OUTBUFF_FULL
  if the size of the compressed data exceeds *destLen
BZ_DATA_ERROR
  if a data integrity error was detected in the compressed data
BZ_DATA_ERROR_MAGIC
  if the compressed data doesn't begin with the right magic bytes
BZ_UNEXPECTED_EOF
  if the compressed data ends unexpectedly
BZ_OK
  otherwise

In a deeply embedded application, you might want to use just the memory-to-memory functions. You can do this conveniently by compiling the library with preprocessor symbol BZ_NO_STDIO defined. Doing this gives you a library containing only the following eight functions:

BZ2_bzCompressInit, BZ2_bzCompress, BZ2_bzCompressEnd BZ2_bzDecompressInit, BZ2_bzDecompress, BZ2_bzDecompressEnd BZ2_bzBuffToBuffCompress, BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress

When compiled like this, all functions will ignore verbosity settings.

libbzip2 contains a number of internal assertion checks which should, needless to say, never be activated. Nevertheless, if an assertion should fail, behaviour depends on whether or not the library was compiled with BZ_NO_STDIO set.

For a normal compile, an assertion failure yields the message:

where N is some error code number. If N == 1007, it also prints some extra text advising the reader that unreliable memory is often associated with internal error 1007. (This is a frequently-observed-phenomenon with versions 1.0.0/1.0.1).

exit(3) is then called.

For a stdio-free library, assertion failures result in a call to a function declared as:

extern void bz_internal_error ( int errcode );

The relevant code is passed as a parameter. You should supply such a function.

In either case, once an assertion failure has occurred, any bz_stream records involved can be regarded as invalid. You should not attempt to resume normal operation with them.

You may, of course, change critical error handling to suit your needs. As I said above, critical errors indicate bugs in the library and should not occur. All "normal" error situations are indicated via error return codes from functions, and can be recovered from.