| Original author(s) | Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie (AT&T Bell Laboratories) |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Various open-source and commercial developers |
| Initial release | November 3, 1971 |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix, Unix-like, V, Plan 9, Inferno |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Command |
| License | Plan 9: MIT License |
| Filename extension | |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
application/x-archive[1] |
| Magic number | !<arch> |
| Type of format | archive format |
| Container for | usually object files (.o) |
| Standard | Not standardized, several variants exist |
| Open format? | Yes[2] |
The archiver, also known simply as ar, is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses and for generating .deb packages for the Debian family; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for purposes other than static libraries.[3] An implementation of ar is included as one of the GNU Binutils.[2]
In the Linux Standard Base (LSB), ar has been deprecated and is expected to disappear in a future release of that standard. The rationale provided was that "the LSB does not include software development utilities nor does it specify .o and .a file formats."[4]