Installation

zfp consists of three distinct parts: a compression library written in C, a set of C++ header files that implement compressed arrays, and a set of C and C++ examples. The main compression codec is written in C and should conform to both the ISO C89 and C99 standards. The C++ array classes are implemented entirely in header files and can be included as is, but since they call the compression library, applications must link with libzfp.

On Linux, macOS, and MinGW, zfp is easiest compiled using gcc and gmake. CMake support is also available, e.g. for Windows builds. See below for instructions on GNU and CMake builds.

zfp has successfully been built and tested using these compilers:

  • gcc versions 4.4.7, 4.7.2, 4.8.2, 4.9.2, 5.4.1, 6.3.0
  • icc versions 12.0.5, 12.1.5, 15.0.4, 16.0.1, 17.0.0, 18.0.0
  • clang version 3.6.0
  • xlc version 12.1
  • MinGW version 5.3.0
  • Visual Studio versions 14.0 (2015), 14.1 (2017)

NOTE: zfp requires 64-bit compiler and operating system support.

GNU Builds

To compile zfp using gcc, type:

make

from the zfp root directory. This builds libzfp as a static library as well as utilities and example programs. To optionally create a shared library, type:

make shared

and set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to lib. To test the compressor, type:

make test

If the compilation or regression tests fail, it is possible that some of the macros in the file Config have to be adjusted. Also, the tests may fail due to minute differences in the computed floating-point fields being compressed (as indicated by checksum errors). It is surprisingly difficult to portably generate a floating-point array that agrees bit-for-bit across platforms. If most tests succeed and the failures result in byte sizes and error values reasonably close to the expected values, then it is likely that the compressor is working correctly.

CMake Builds

To build zfp using CMake on Linux or macOS, start a Unix shell and type:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

To also build the examples, replace the cmake line with:

cmake -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON ..

To build zfp using Visual Studio on Windows, start an MSBuild shell and type:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
msbuild /p:Configuration=Release zfp.sln
msbuild /p:Configuration=Debug   zfp.sln

This builds zfp in both debug and release mode. See the instructions for Linux on how to change the cmake line to also build the example programs.

Compile-Time Macros

The behavior of zfp can be configured at compile time via a set of macros. For GNU builds, these macros are set in the file Config. For CMake builds, use the -D option on the cmake line as in the example above.

ZFP_INT64
ZFP_INT64_SUFFIX
ZFP_UINT64
ZFP_UINT64_SUFFIX

64-bit signed and unsigned integer types and their literal suffixes. Platforms on which long int is 32 bits wide may require long long int as type and ll as suffix. These macros are relevant only when compiling in C89 mode. When compiling in C99 mode, integer types are taken from stdint.h. Defaults: long int, l, unsigned long int, and ul, respectively.

ZFP_WITH_ALIGNED_ALLOC

Use aligned memory allocation in an attempt to align compressed blocks on hardware cache lines. Default: undefined/off.

ZFP_WITH_CACHE_TWOWAY

Use a two-way skew-associative rather than direct-mapped cache. This incurs some overhead that may be offset by better cache utilization. Default: undefined/off.

ZFP_WITH_CACHE_FAST_HASH

Use a simpler hash function for cache line lookup. This is faster but may lead to more collisions. Default: undefined/off.

ZFP_WITH_CACHE_PROFILE

Enable cache profiling to gather and print statistics on cache hit and miss rates. Default: undefined/off.

BIT_STREAM_WORD_TYPE

Unsigned integer type used for buffering bits. Wider types tend to give higher performance at the expense of lower bit rate granularity. For portability of compressed files between little and big endian platforms, BIT_STREAM_WORD_TYPE should be set to uint8. Default: uint64.

ZFP_BIT_STREAM_WORD_SIZE

CMake macro for indirectly setting BIT_STREAM_WORD_TYPE. Valid values are 8, 16, 32, 64. Default: 64.

BIT_STREAM_STRIDED

Enable support for strided bit streams that allow for non-contiguous memory layouts, e.g., to enable progressive access. Default: undefined/off.