I want to be able to zip files from my non-gui C/C++ application, on several versions of Windows, Linux/Unix, and MacOS.
The user will compile and run using this app using Eclipse + makefile or VisualStudio. I don't want the user to have to install something separately, or have my makefile install executables.
Prefer open-source. I'm already looking at "Zip 3.0"...
I've had great results with miniz: https://code.google.com/p/miniz/
For a simple compression of strings in c++, I also really like Timo Bingmann's solution.
Take a look at Libarchive. I spent a lot of time seeking for a cross-platform and LGPL licensed library with convenient interface. This the best of all I've seen. Very easy and powerful tool. Originally designed for Unix-like systems but there's also the Windows version.