So you want to know the meaning behind our tshirt, “Ask me about timestamped g-zipped tarballs!” ? The monkeys have broken it down for you by term: Tar
Tar, also known as Tape Archive, is a file format and program. It was initially developed to write data to sequential I/O devices, but it is now used to compact many files into one large file in order to distribute and archive while maintaining file system information including user and group permissions, dates, and directory structures. A tarball or tarfile is the group or archive of files bundled using the tar command.
Gzip
Gzip is a software application used to compress and decompress files created by Jean-Loup Gailly and Mark Adler. Gzip was originally a free software replacement for a program used in early Unix systems. It was intended for use by the GNU project; the g in gzip stands for GNU. Gzip is well suited for HTML and CSS and helps websites load quicker. Version 0.1 was released on October 31, 1992, followed by the release of version 1.0 in February 1993.
Timestamp
Deriving from a rubber stamp used to document when a paper was received in an office, the old ink stamp has evolved. A timestamp is a sequence of encoded information or characters identifying when a certain event occurred. Most often, the timestamp depicts the date and time of day in regards to digital data. For example, when looking at a photograph, you might notice a little orange timestamp in the bottom corner. Computer files contain timestamps to inform when the file was last opened and/or modified.
Do you use tar, gzip, or a timestamp? Do you have a suggestions for our next t-shirt? Let us know in the comments below!
