How to decode gzip and tar files on the Macintosh

Last updated 99/02/09

Here are hints about unpacking .tgz and .tar files (and some others) on the Macintosh.

• There is no problem if you have DropStuff with Expander Enhancer installed. This comes from Aladdin Systems, and costs a small amount. The benefit is, it figures out most types of downloads, figures out what they are, and unstuffs them automatically

  However, visit the prefs in StuffIt Expander, and make sure that they say to "Always" convert text files to Mac format under the cross platform section.

• A cheaper solution: MacGZip and tar, both of which are free, and which I tracked down using Netscape's smart browsing (I just typed "MacGZip" and "Mac tar", respectively) in the URL edit field, and in each case the first search result was correct. MacGWiz!
  

• This was posted to netscape.public.mozilla.mac on 99/02/09 by Chris Nandor:

  I have a solution that is easier (in some respects) and just as cheap. :)

  In my CPAN directory (along with the Mac::AppleEvents::Simple and Mac::Apps::Launch modules) is something called cpan-mac, which I posted about last week.

  Run the installer, and then you can use the program untargzipme to unpack the .tar.gz or .tgz archives, and then installme to install them (or use installme to do both at once). Just drop the archive or folder on the droplet. You'll need to give your MacPerl app about 10MB of RAM.

  If you have more RAM (30-40MB for the app) and are a little more adventuresome, you can run the CPAN-shell program and, once doing some configuration as per the README, just type:

  cpan> install Mac::AppleEvents::Simple

  And the module will (in theory) be downloaded, unpacked, and installed for you.

  But the previous solution -- just installing the cpan-mac stuff, increasing your memory allocation to 10MB, and using the droplets -- should be sufficient, and very easy to use.