7-Zip, the open source file archiver, is now available for Linux

An official build of 7-Zip is now available for Linux x86, x86-64, ARMv7, and ARM64 architectures, extending the popular open source file compression program from PCs running Microsoft Windows to thousands of Linux-powered devices, including Chromebooks and the Raspberry Pi.

Linux users have been able to use the 7-Zip archive (*.7z) for a while using applications like p7zip, thanks to the open architecture of the file format. But since the release of 7-Zip 21.01 alpha, developers, system-admins, and Linux enthusiasts can get the Linux binary of the program directly from 7-Zip’s website and enjoy the native support. You can invoke it under a container, a remote machine, or even under Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

7-Zip Linux running under WSL on Windows 10

7-Zip Linux running under WSL 2 together with the Windows CLI version

The complete changelog for the 21.01 alpha build of 7-Zip (released on March 9, 2021) is as below:

  • The command line version of 7-Zip for Linux was released.
  • The improvements for speed of ARM64 version using hardware CPU instructions for AES, CRC-32, SHA-1 and SHA-256.
  • The bug in versions 18.02 – 21.00 was fixed: 7-Zip could not correctly extract some ZIP archives created with xz compression method.
  • Some bugs were fixed.

As the Linux version becomes a standard offering, you can expect the release mechanics to fall in line with official 7-Zip releases. Given the fact that p7zip was last updated in 2016, it is indeed a wise move by 7-Zip developer Igor Pavlov to take matters into his own hands and release official Linux binaries based on the latest 7-Zip codebase. However, the developer has yet to publish the source code for this version. As mentioned in the release discussion thread (via Bleeping Computers), Pavlov self-admittedly doesn’t work with Linux, which means an official build system for the port will take some time to appear. Although p7zip’s build script can be adapted to compile 7-Zip on Linux, it mightn’t be a suitable solution in the long run.

If you want to try out 7-Zip’s official Linux variant, you can download the alpha build directly from the announcement thread or from the download section of its website. The first stage is to pick the package you need for your CPU architecture. Once it’s downloaded, you have to unpack the *.tar.xz archive to get the 7zz executable. It is worth noting that a first-party official GUI front-end for the CLI version isn’t available yet.

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