GNU bug report logs - #19725
Correction for md5sum manual page

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Terry Hoye <hoye <at> yahoo.com>
To: "bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org" <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Correction for md5sum manual page
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 16:11:57 +0000 (UTC)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Regarding GNU coreutils 8.12.197-032bb    September 2011, 
man md5sum states in part:
[quote]
The sums are computed as described in RFC  1321.   When  checking,  the
input  should  be a former output of this program.  The default mode is
to print a line with checksum, a character  indicating  type  (`*'  for
binary, ` ' for text), and name for each FILE.[/quote]
I think I am correct in the following observatiion:
Taken literally, the second sentence is incorrect. The default mode has
two characters, often both spaces, between the two stringsets.
I don't think the algorithm works correctly with only one space between the stringsets.
Regards,TJ Hoye
    

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Message #10 received at 19725-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Terry Hoye <hoye <at> yahoo.com>, 19725-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#19725: Correction for md5sum manual page
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:08:46 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 29/01/15 16:11, Terry Hoye wrote:
> 
> Regarding GNU coreutils 8.12.197-032bb    September 2011,
> man md5sum states in part:
> [quote]
> The sums are computed as described in RFC  1321.   When  checking,  the
> input  should  be a former output of this program.  The default mode is
> to print a line with checksum, a character  indicating  type  (`*'  for
> binary, ` ' for text), and name for each FILE.[/quote]
> 
> I think I am correct in the following observation:
> Taken literally, the second sentence is incorrect. The default mode has
> two characters, often both spaces, between the two stringsets.

True.
The attached should make this more accurate.

> I don't think the algorithm works correctly with only one space between the stringsets.

Well --check still works in this case as it's switching
to "bsd reversed" mode. I.E. supporting the output from `md5 -r` etc.
I've made this clearer also, in the info docs.

thanks,
Pádraig.

[check-sum-format.diff (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #13 received at 19725 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: 19725 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, P <at> draigBrady.com, hoye <at> yahoo.com
Subject: Re: bug#19725: Correction for md5sum manual page
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 07:52:41 +0100

On 01/29/2015 08:08 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> [PATCH] doc: clarify the output format for the *sum utilities

+1

Thanks & have a nice day,
Berny

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