[PROPOSAL] Checksum - a task to calculate checksums for files.

[Magesh Umasankar <um...@rediffmail.com>]

Checksum Task
=============

I propose to create a task named checksum that allows 
the user to generate checksums for files.  

The task would take in these attributes:

1. file (optional if nested fileset is used)
2. algorithm (optional, defaults to MD5). Other 
   algorithms like SHA, etc. will be supported.
3. tofile - mandatory (to store generated checksums)
   
   tofile's contents would be in the following format:
   
   filename:checksum


Use Case:
========

The step in the build that follows a successful compile, 
test and packaging is distribution.  It has become a 
standard practice to distribute the file's checksum so 
that the one who is downloading can check the 
distribution's completeness.  A task that can compute 
such a checksum, given a file, would thus be a natural 
fit into the build process.


Your Inputs Please:
==================

1. Do you consider such a task useful?
2. What other features would you want to see added to 
   this task?
3. Has such a task already been proposed and/or 
   rejected? (I did my homework, and couldn't find any.)

Thanks,
Magesh
 


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Re: [PROPOSAL] Checksum - a task to calculate checksums for files.

[Stefan Bodewig <bo...@apache.org>]

On 5 Nov 2001, Magesh Umasankar <um...@rediffmail.com> wrote:

> It has become a standard practice to distribute the file's checksum
> so that the one who is downloading can check the distribution's
> completeness.

I don't trust MD5 checksums as much as signatures 8-)

> 1. Do you consider such a task useful?

yes - that way I don't need to remember which package the md5 command
belongs to ...

Stefan

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