+Free Software Foundation. See `/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/DISTRIB' and
+`/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/ORDERS'.
+
+* What format are the *.gz files in?
+
+Because the unix `compress' utility is patented (by two separate
+patents, in fact), we cannot use it; it's not free software.
+
+Therefore, the GNU Project has chosen a new compression utility,
+`gzip', which is free of any known software patents and which tends to
+compress better anyway. As of March 1993, all compressed files in the
+GNU anonymous FTP area, `prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu', have been
+converted to the new format. Files compressed with this new
+compression program end in `.gz' (as opposed to `compress'-compressed
+files, which end in `.Z').
+
+Gzip can uncompress `compress'-compressed files and `pack'-compressed
+files (which end in `.z'). This is possible because the various
+decompression algorithms are not patented---only compression is.
+
+The gzip program is available from any GNU mirror site (see
+`/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FTP' for a list of mirror sites) in shar, tar, or
+gzipped tar format (for those who already have a prior version of gzip
+and want faster data transmission). It works on virtually every unix
+system, MSDOS, OS/2, and VMS.