[Tfug] Why is the Linux Kernel Image Compressed on Disk?

[Jeremy C. Reed]

On Fri, 5 Jan 2007, Felix Tilley wrote:

> The Linux kernel image seems to be compressed on disc, usually with bzip2.

It is not compressed with bzip2.

The "b" for "bzimage" is for "big" and is just the type of kernel for 
where it is loaded in memory.

If compressed, it is just normal gzip.

There is some patch for bzip2 for kernel but I don't know of anyone that 
uses it. I don't think it is in official kernel source.