{"categories":[{"label":"Compression","url":"https://skillfed.io/packages/category/system-archiving-compression"}],"enrichment":{"capability":"Patool is a command-line archive manager that can create, extract, test, list, search, repack, and compare archives in many formats with a unified interface.","skillfed_tags":["archive-management","command-line-tool","compression"],"use_cases":["Extract multiple archives in different formats with a single command instead of switching between tools.","Test archive integrity before deployment or distribution.","Search for text patterns inside compressed archives without manually extracting them first.","Convert or repack an archive from one format to another (e.g., tar.gz to tar.bz2).","List files stored in an archive to inspect contents before extraction.","Handle password-protected archives from the command line."],"what_it_does":"Patool is a portable archive manager that unifies the command-line interface for working with many archive formats. Instead of remembering separate tools and flags for 7z, ACE, ADF, ALZIP, APE, AR, ARC, ARJ, BZIP2, BZIP3, CAB, CHM, COMPRESS, CPIO, DEB, DMS, FLAC, FREEARC, GZIP, ISO, LRZIP, LZH, LZIP, LZMA, LZOP, RPM, RAR, RZIP, SHN, TAR, UDF, XZ, ZIP, ZOO, and ZSTANDARD, you use a single set of commands to extract, create, test, list, search, repack, and compare archives. It determines the archive format automatically using the file(1) program and falls back to file extension matching.\n\nThe package includes both a command-line tool and a Python API. Natively it supports TAR, ZIP, BZIP2, LZMA, and GZIP without external dependencies; other formats require their respective helper applications to be installed on the system. It has no Python runtime dependencies, making it lightweight to install, and is actively maintained with unit tests run on each code push.","worth_installing":"Yes, if you work with multiple archive formats and want a unified interface. The package is stable, actively maintained, has no Python dependencies, and supports a wide range of formats. The main constraint is that less common formats require their helper applications to be installed separately. GPL-3 licensing is acceptable for most use cases but requires compliance if you redistribute or modify the code."},"id":"patool","links":{"html":"https://skillfed.io/packages/patool","md":"https://skillfed.io/packages/patool.md","pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/patool/"},"maintenance":{"status":"active"},"meta":{"latest_release":"2026-05-18","license_spdx":null,"license_treatment":"copyleft","name":"patool","python_support":"supports_current","summary":"portable archive file manager"},"popularity":{"monthly_downloads":1374430,"position":3989,"tier":"top_5000"},"security":{"n_vulnerabilities":0},"version":"4.0.5"}