[LBo] MD5SUM

[Troy]

Howard,

Thank you for providing this explanation.

Troy

On 8/29/07, Howard Rosen <hrosen33 at dialup4less.com> wrote:
>
> md5sum
> >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
>
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> md5sum is a computer program which calculates and verifies MD5 hashes,
> as described in RFC 1321. The MD5 hash (or checksum) functions as a
> compact digital fingerprint of a file. It is extremely unlikely that any
> two non-identical files will have the same MD5 hash (although it is
> certainly possible).
>
> Because almost any change to a file will cause its MD5 hash to also
> change, the MD5 hash is commonly used to verify the integrity of files
> (i.e., to verify that a file has not changed as a result of file
> transfer, disk error, human meddling, etc.). The md5sum program is
> installed by default in most Unix, Linux, and Unix-like operating
> systems or compatibility layers. BSD variants (including Mac OS X) have
> a similar utility called md5. Versions for Microsoft Windows do exist
> (see external links).
>
> Note that MD5 has been found to be cryptographically flawed, which means
> md5sum should not be used in situations where security is important. It
> is still very much usable for general-purpose file integrity
> verification, however.
>
>
>
>
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