nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter(1)

📦
version 1.48.1 · 7 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter ✨

okay bestie, so this is a page from the nbdkit manual — the one and only. we're talking nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter(1) and honestly? it's giving speed 💅

💖 NAME 💖

nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter — access .gz contents efficiently

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

nbdkit --filter=indexed-gzip PLUGIN gzip-index-path=PATH
                                    [gzip-index-span=SIZE]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so "nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter" is a filter for nbdkit, and what it does is give you fast and efficient random-access to gzip-compressed data. no cap. 🎀

meanwhile the standard nbdkit-gzip-filter(1)? it decompresses the entire archive to a temporary file 😭 which means you need enough storage or memory to hold the whole uncompressed input. like, the entire thing. all of it. every byte.

with this filter, the entire archive still needs to be decompressed once, but only an index file needs to be stored in storage or memory. and depending on the user-specified distance between index points, that index might only be 0.3% to 3% of the size of the uncompressed archive. obsessed honestly ✨

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

  • gzip-index-path=PATH — path to the complete gzip index file. it gets created if it doesn't exist, and reused if it does. 👑

this parameter is required. like, you literally cannot skip it, bestie.

  • gzip-index-span=SIZE — the number of bytes between index points. eg. 1M, 10M etc. (default: 1MB)

a span of 10M produces an index file of eg, ~0.3% of uncompressed input

a span of 1M produces an index file of eg, ~3% of uncompressed input.

smaller span improves random-access performance, since on average it means fewer bytes to decompress until reaching the requested byte — with the trade-off of a larger index file. the way that math works out is genuinely iconic 🌈

💜 FILES 💜

  • $filterdir/nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter.so — the filter.

use nbdkit --dump-config to find the location of $filterdir. iykyk 🔍

⭐ VERSION ⭐

nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter first appeared in nbdkit 1.46. a whole era. 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

nbdkit(1), nbdkit-filter(3), nbdkit-gzip-filter(1)

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Shasheen Ediriweera

Mark Adler

Copyright (C) 2025 Shasheen Ediriweera

Copyright (C) 2005, 2012, 2018, 2023, 2024 Mark Adler

📜 LICENSE 📜

redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  • Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  • Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  • Neither the name of Red Hat nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY RED HAT AND CONTRIBUTORS ''AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL RED HAT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially educated 💅✨

this was from nbdkit-1.48.1, dated 2026-08-29, and it's the nbdkit-indexed-gzip-filter(1) manual. mwah. 🍓🧚

📦 where this page comes from