# man > gzexe(1)

> **TLDR:** Compress executable files while keeping them executable.
>
- Compress an executable file in-place:
  `gzexe {{path/to/executable}}`
- [d]ecompress a compressed executable in-place (i.e. convert the shell script back to an uncompressed binary):
  `gzexe -d {{path/to/compressed_executable}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

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[_GZEXE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GZEXE/1/markdown)                               General Commands Manual                              [_GZEXE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GZEXE/1/markdown)

## NAME
       gzexe - compress executable files in place

## SYNOPSIS
       **gzexe _**name_ _..._

## DESCRIPTION
       The **gzexe **utility allows you to compress executables in place and have them automatically un‐
       compress and execute when you run them (at a penalty in performance).  For example if you ex‐
       ecute ``gzexe /usr/bin/gdb'' it will create the following two files:
           -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 1026675 Jun  7 13:53 /usr/bin/gdb
           -rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 2304524 May 30 13:02 /usr/bin/gdb~
       /usr/bin/gdb~  is  the  original  file  and /usr/bin/gdb is the self-uncompressing executable
       file.  You can remove /usr/bin/gdb~ once you are sure that /usr/bin/gdb works properly.

       This utility is most useful on systems with very small disks.

## OPTIONS
### -d     

## SEE ALSO
       [**gzip**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gzip/1/markdown), [**znew**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/znew/1/markdown), [**zmore**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zmore/1/markdown), [**zcmp**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zcmp/1/markdown), [**zforce**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zforce/1/markdown)

## CAVEATS
       The compressed executable is a shell script.  This may create some security holes.   In  par‐
       ticular,  the  compressed executable relies on the PATH environment variable to find **gzip **and
       some standard utilities (**basename**, **chmod**, **ln**, **mkdir**, **mktemp**, **rm**, **sleep**, and **tail**).

## BUGS
       The **gzexe **command attempts to retain the original file  attributes  on  the  compressed  exe‐
       cutable, but you may have to fix them manually in some cases, using **chmod **or **chown**.

                                                                                            [_GZEXE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GZEXE/1/markdown)