tar -czf archive.tgz -C /repos project
tar -xzf archive.tgz -C /work --strip-components 1
tar -tf archive.tar
tar -cf - project | gzip -c > project.tgz
gzip -k file
gunzip -fk file.gz
zcat file.gz

The tar parser accepts short combined flags, -C, -f -, and --strip-components. Extraction supports regular files and directories. It rejects special files and paths outside the destination. Creation uses portable modes because WASI does not expose Unix mode bits. It includes symbolic links in archives, but world extraction does not create symbolic links or hardlinks. The selected -C applies to all input paths. With -v, creation prints names to stdout for named archives and to stderr for -f -.

Gzip supports -d, -c, -k, and -f. Gunzip defaults to decompression. Zcat defaults to decompression to stdout. Files use the .gz suffix. Decompression accepts concatenated gzip members. Existing output files require -f. A successful file operation removes its input unless -k is set.

From userland/, with the executor's CARGO_TARGET_DIR:

nix develop -c cargo build -p sausage-archive-tools --release --locked
nix develop -c nu archive-tools/test.nu
nix develop -c cargo test -p sausage-archive-tools --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu --locked

The test script compares cross-format tar and gzip transfers with native tools. It also compares common GoAWK one-liners and checks the pinned QuickJS command. The real-world tests live in fs-tools/world-test.nu. Nix packaging remains deferred until T17 merges.