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I think the bzImage kernel image file might predate the release of bzip2. I'm not sure where to lookup when the kernel source first built a bzImage though.

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Before it was the Big Zipped Image it was the Zipped Image, zImage or vmlinuz. Google has results as far back as 2001 or 2002 for vmlinuz so it's safe to say the tradition predates bzip2.

It's worth noting that Linux can in fact use bzip2 today, and the resulting image is still typically called bzImage.

I think bzImage and bzip2 were approximately contemporaneous - I certainly remember using bzip2 in the late 90s (it was not real fast on a P90!).

Oh, it is older than I thought. Wikipedia says version 0.15 was released in 1996.

Either way "bz" stands for Big Zipped and is unrelated to bzip2.

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