GUI-based applications like PKZIP and winzip (and the GUI version of 7z/7zip) let us browse around our directories and create a compressed file that contains lots of different directories and files, complete with [partial or full] paths.
What is the equivalent on Ubuntu Linux (specifically, 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04)?
The default archive manager for Gnome is called file-roller, that should be installed in your distribution. Otherwise you can install it typing in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install file-roller
For 7z archives you'll need p7zip package installed too:
sudo apt-get install p7zip*
With those two tools you can also encrypt, put a password to your compressed files.
Alternative: xarchiver
sudo apt-get install xarchiver
I can't believe I learn about this program only now, after using ubuntu for a year, reading omgubuntu.co.uk, webupd8.org etc. :) As you can see it has all one would need.
It is installed via deb package. For me it installed without errors but I didn't get a Dash shortcut for it. Since the portable version (no installation required) works fine, I won't bother troubleshooting it. Right click > View Image for higher resolutions.
http://code.google.com/p/k7z/wiki/Screenshots
k7z is an alternative 7-Zip GUI. It was designed by Xavion.
a.k.a. Q7zip, Q7Z, J7Z and what not :) Unfortuunately there are no deb packages nor a PPA.
I do not consider File Roller a 7zip or WinZip equivalent as it has some serious limitations. For example File Roller does not feature compression level selection for newly created archives. I can't imagine using an archiving tool without the feature which, IMO, can hardly be labeled as a 'power user feature'.
The default and essential compression utility for Ubuntu is gzip, a powerful highly configurable command line utility.
To make things easier for us you can invoke compression utilities by simply right click from the file browser Nautilus on selected files/directories choosing the context menu Compress....
Other compression methods like e.g. p7zip, or rar have to be installed first.
For viewing the content of a compressed file simply double click it for opening in file roller.
