# bzip2-rust
Rust implementation of Bzip2 library. This is late alpha / early beta stage. Use at your own risk. This may be used under either the Apache or MIT license.

*Block specific decoding modes are not yet implemented.*

The goal of the executable is to allow for near 100% compatibility with the existing C version of the Bzip2 executable. However the internal algorithms differ. 

The largest internal differences are that this version implements 
1) an alternative sorting algorithm (SA-IS) optimized for highly repetitive data such as gene sequencing information. You should find signficant speed enhancements for that type of data.
2) multi-threading to optimize speed on multi-core processors

The C version of Bzip2 was very memory efficient - a key factor for that era. This version tries to be careful with memory usage, but does not prioritize memory usage over speed.

The C version of Bzip2 contains a library and several stand-alone tools to work with files (including damaged, compressed files). I do *not* attempt to reproduce those tools.

David Snyder, June 2024.