Linux kernel compressed files have some text strings

Like 'styles', 'breast', 'SEEMED', 'monaco', 'headed', 'AERIAL', 'NATHAN' and even 'for(;'.

You can check this yourself:

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.2.10.tar.xz

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x03A28040 -l 0x10 linux-5.2.10.tar.xz

03a28040: 6d 59 70 58 37 9c f2 da 73 74 79 6c 65 73 87 13  mYpX7...styles..

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/cip/4.4/linux-cip-4.4.281-cip61.tar.xz

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x01517E90 -l 0x10 linux-cip-4.4.281-cip61.tar.xz

01517e90: 62 72 65 61 73 74 a8 dc 18 bb c1 c9 53 5f 3f 8f  breast......S_?.

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.39.2.tar.bz2

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x03519320 -l 0x30 linux-2.6.39.2.tar.bz2

03519320: 61 70 fd 07 43 c0 3a 72 38 e5 35 4d 2c 92 cc b4  ap..C.:r8.5M,...
03519330: 49 49 51 15 14 54 55 15 53 45 45 4d 45 44 d1 15  IIQ..TU.SEEMED..
03519340: 55 51 4d 51 35 05 50 41 54 45 54 87 fc 9f bb a7  UQMQ5.PATET.....

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.10.25.tar.gz

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x023B1180 -l 0x10 linux-3.10.25.tar.gz

023b1180: 40 90 2c 6f b1 74 84 ec 00 6d 6f 6e 61 63 6f 9e  @.,o.t...monaco.

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.4.41.tar.bz2

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x020E7C70 -l 0x20 linux-3.4.41.tar.bz2

020e7c70: cc 12 90 a4 4b 1a 43 18 36 8c 93 4d 99 68 65 61  ....K.C.6..M.hea
020e7c80: 64 65 64 84 5a 21 f1 c4 1e d5 fd ef 78 3a 53 82  ded.Z!......x:S.

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.4.3.tar.bz2

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x03FD2590 -l 0x20 linux-3.4.3.tar.bz2

03fd2590: 0a 1a 66 69 34 a6 90 8a 8b 63 1b 49 46 91 41 45  ..fi4....c.IF.AE
03fd25a0: 52 49 41 4c a9 ac b2 52 01 9b 62 18 d2 5a 24 66  RIAL...R..b..Z$f

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.16.55.tar.gz

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x028B25C0 -l 0x10 linux-3.16.55.tar.gz

028b25c0: b9 fd b4 d4 1d c3 6e 75 ac 4e 41 54 48 41 4e d8  ......nu.NATHAN.

# wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/next/patch-v3.4-rc4-next-20120423.bz2

# xxd -g 1 -seek 0x00225670 -l 0x10 patch-v3.4-rc4-next-20120423.bz2

00225670: 34 ef 66 6f 72 28 3b 80 40 23 47 82 95 f3 bb 80  4.for(;.@#G.....

Read more in Mathematics ⋂ programming, Ctrl-F: '8.1 Text strings right in the middle of compressed data'.

This time I had to sieve ~1.6TiB of compressed files from kernel.org.

(the post first published at 20251002.)

List of my other blog posts. Subscribe to my news feed,

If you enjoy my work, you can support it on patreon.

Some time ago (before 24-Mar-2025) there was Disqus JS script for comments. I dropped it --- it was so motley, distracting, animated, with too much ads. I never liked it. Also, comments din't appeared correctly (Disqus was buggy). Also, my blog is too chamberlike --- not many people write comments here. So I decided to switch to the model I once had at least in 2020 --- send me your comments by email (don't forget to include URL to this blog post) and I will copy&paste it here manually.

Let's party like it's ~1993-1996, in this ultimate, radical and uncompromisingly primitive pre-web1.0-style blog and website. This website is best viewed under lynx/links/elinks/w3m.