:Linux.com: Handling RAR and 7-Zip Archives in Linux
Linux.com: Handling RAR and 7-Zip Archives in Linux Feb 5, 2007, 08 :30 UTC (5 Talkback[s]) (11282 reads) (Other stories by Nathan Willis)
"The RAR and 7-Zip file compression formats originated on Windows, so support for them on Linux is not as automatic as it is for old Unix holdovers like Gzip and TAR. But with the right software, you can handle these compressed files without much trouble.
"First, a little background. RAR--short for Roshal Archive--is a proprietary file compression format developed by Eugene Roshal. Roshal sells a commercial utility for Windows called WinRAR, but also offers uncompress-only clients for a number of operating systems at no charge..."
