macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install gzrtlocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install gzrecoverMacPorts ports tree · archivers/gzrecover/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew
Install gzrt with Homebrew, apt, Nix, zypper, MacPorts
Gzip recovery toolkit. Version 0.8 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Debian aptverified · 92%
sudo apt install gzrtDebian stable package indexes · gzrt · source: deb.debian.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#gzrtnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/gz/gzrt/package.nix · source: api.github.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install gzrtopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · gzrt · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Gzip recovery toolkit
Project links
Commands and aliases
- gzrecover
history
Project history and usage
The Gzip Recovery Toolkit, centered on the gzrecover program, is a small recovery utility for extracting readable data from corrupted gzip files. Its history is thin but practical: it exists because ordinary gzip and tar workflows can fail hard when a compressed backup contains bad sectors or corrupted bytes.
Project history
Aaron M. Renn's project page explains the origin in backup recovery: a gzip archive failed partway through restore, and gzrecover was written to skip bad data and salvage what could be read. The page and README both stress that recovery is best-effort and that recovered output must be manually verified.
The project page lists gzrt 0.8 from October 2013 and points to a GitHub repository for sources. GitHub repository metadata records the public repository as created in February 2012, with the description 'gzip Recovery Toolkit aka gzrecover'.
Adoption history
gzrt adoption is mostly in Unix package repositories where administrators may need it once, urgently, for a damaged .gz or .tar.gz backup. The supplied package facts show Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, MacPorts, Nix, and zypper coverage, which is broad for a niche recovery tool.
Its adoption is also tied to gzip's dominance. Because .gz and .tar.gz files are common backup and source-distribution artifacts, a recovery utility for damaged gzip streams has a place in package collections even when it is not a daily-use command.
How it is used
gzrecover reads a corrupted gzip file or standard input and writes recovered output to a .recovered file by default, with options for output filename, standard-output pipeline mode, verbose logging, and splitting recovered segments. For recovered tarballs, the documentation recommends GNU cpio because tar may stop on format errors.
The project page cautions that many apparently corrupted gzip archives were transferred in FTP ASCII mode and should be re-transferred in binary mode before attempting recovery. That warning is part of the tool's operational history: it is a last-resort recovery command, not a replacement for gunzip.
Why package nerds care
gzrt is interesting to package nerds because it is tiny, old-school, and high-leverage: a single-purpose C utility that can rescue data from the same compressed archives package systems and admins rely on. It also illustrates why distributions keep niche tools around: the value appears when a corrupted backup is the only copy.
It pairs naturally with gzip, zlib, tar, and cpio. The documented tarball recovery flow is a classic Unix composition: run gzrecover to salvage a stream, then use cpio to extract around damaged tar records.
Timeline
- 2002: Copyright history for gzrecover begins.
- 2012: The public GitHub repository was created.
- 2013: gzrt 0.8 was published with bug fixes and improvements.
- 2010s-2020s: Package-manager coverage included Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, MacPorts, Nix, and zypper according to the supplied package facts.
Related projects
- gzrt is directly related to GNU gzip, zlib, GNU tar, and GNU cpio. It belongs beside other data-recovery and archive-repair utilities rather than general compression tools.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
gzrecover | cli | global executable |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-07-08
manager version0.8
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/coding/gzrt/gzrt.html
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/coding/gzrt/gzrt.htmlnone confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:gzrt |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.8 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/gzrt |
| Homepage | https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/coding/gzrt/gzrt.html |
| Repository | https://github.com/arenn/gzrt |
| Upstream docs | https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/coding/gzrt/gzrt.html |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/coding/gzrt/gzrt-0.8.tar.gz |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | gzrt |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Debian apt95%
gzrt 0.8-1+b1
gzip recovery toolkit
http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/gzrt/
sudo apt install gzrt- Section: utils
- Architecture: amd64
- Source Package: gzrt
- 2 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Gzrt
Nix95%
gzrt
nix profile install nixpkgs#gzrt- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Gzrt
Ubuntu apt95%
gzrt 0.8-1build1
gzip recovery toolkit
http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/gzrt/
sudo apt install gzrt- Section: universe/utils
- Architecture: amd64
- 2 dependencies
- 1 optional deps
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Gzrt
zypper95%
gzrt 0.8-2.22
Recover data from a corrupted gzip file
https://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/gzrt/gzrt.html
sudo zypper install gzrt- License: GPL-2.0-only
- Category: Productivity/Archiving/Compression
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: gzrt
- 2 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Gzrt
MacPorts94%
gzrecover
sudo port install gzrecover- installed executable or alias match
- Matched by: Gzrecover
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment