The method parameter is the compression method. It must be Z_DEFLATED in this version of the library.

The windowBits parameter is the base two logarithm of the window size (the size of the history buffer). It should be in the range 8..15 for this version of the library. Larger values of this parameter result in better compression at the expense of memory usage. The default value is 15 if deflateInit is used instead

windowBits can also be –8..–15 for raw deflate. In this case, -windowBits determines the window size. deflate() will then generate raw deflate data with no zlib header or trailer, and will not compute an adler32 check value.

windowBits can also be greater than 15 for optional gzip encoding. Add 16 to windowBits to write a simple gzip header and trailer around the compressed data instead of a zlib wrapper. The gzip header will have no file name, no extra data, no comment, no modification time (set to zero), no header crc, and the operating system will be set to 255 (unknown). If a gzip stream is being written, strm->adler is a crc32 instead of an adler32.

The memLevel parameter specifies how much memory should be allocated for the internal compression state. memLevel=1 uses minimum memory but is slow and reduces compression ratio; memLevel=9 uses maximum memory for optimal speed. The default value is 8. See zconf.h for total memory usage as a function of windowBits and memLevel.

The strategy parameter is used to tune the compression algorithm. Use the value Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY for normal data, Z_FILTERED for data produced by a filter (or predictor), Z_HUFFMAN_ONLY to force Huffman encoding only (no string match), or Z_RLE to limit match distances to one (run-length encoding). Filtered data consists mostly of small values with a somewhat random distribution. In this case, the compression algorithm is tuned to compress them better. The effect of Z_FILTERED is to force more Huffman coding and less string matching; it is somewhat intermediate between Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY and Z_HUFFMAN_ONLY. Z_RLE is designed to be almost as fast as Z_HUFFMAN_ONLY, but give better compression for PNG image data. The strategy parameter only affects the compression ratio but not the correctness of the compressed output even if it is not set appropriately. Z_FIXED prevents the use of dynamic Huffman codes, allowing for a simpler decoder for special applications.

cc -O -c -o adler32.o adler32.c
cc -O -c -o crc32.o crc32.c
cc -O -c -o deflate.o deflate.c
cc -O -c -o infback.o infback.c
cc -O -c -o inffast.o inffast.c
cc -O -c -o inflate.o inflate.c
cc -O -c -o inftrees.o inftrees.c
cc -O -c -o trees.o trees.c
cc -O -c -o zutil.o zutil.c
cc -O -c -o compress.o compress.c
cc -O -c -o uncompr.o uncompr.c
cc -O -c -o gzclose.o gzclose.c
cc -O -c -o gzlib.o gzlib.c
cc -O -c -o gzread.o gzread.c
cc -O -c -o gzwrite.o gzwrite.c
ar rc libz.a adler32.o crc32.o deflate.o infback.o inffast.o inflate.o inftrees.o trees.o zutil.o compress.o uncompr.o gzclose.o gzlib.o gzread.o gzwrite.o
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/adler32.o adler32.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/crc32.o crc32.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/deflate.o deflate.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/infback.o infback.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/inffast.o inffast.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/inflate.o inflate.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/inftrees.o inftrees.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/trees.o trees.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/zutil.o zutil.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/compress.o compress.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/uncompr.o uncompr.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/gzclose.o gzclose.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/gzlib.o gzlib.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/gzread.o gzread.c
cc -O -DPIC -c -o objs/gzwrite.o gzwrite.c
cc -O -o libz.so.1.2.8 adler32.lo crc32.lo deflate.lo infback.lo inffast.lo inflate.lo inftrees.lo trees.lo zutil.lo compress.lo uncompr.lo gzclose.lo gzlib.lo gzread.lo gzwrite.lo -lc
c:/cygwin/usr/i686-pc-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/4.6.2/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lc
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [libz.so.1.2.8] Error 1

cc -O -o libz.so.1.2.8 adler32.lo crc32.lo deflate.lo infback.lo inffast.lo inflate.lo inftrees.lo trees.lo zutil.lo compress.lo uncompr.lo gzclose.lo gzlib.lo gzread.lo gzwrite.lo -lc
c:/cygwin/usr/i686-pc-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/4.6.2/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lc
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [libz.so.1.2.8] Error 1