mdsum(1)

💖 mdsum — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to mdsum(1) from the GNU Telephony / GNU uCommon girlies — this is the page that tells you how to make your files spill their digest tea. 🫖✨

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✨ NAME ✨

mdsum — compute file digests using any supported algorithms. that's it, that's the whole vibe. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mdsum [options] [paths...]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So like, mdsum computes a message digest for one or more files you point it at. that's the whole job. it's giving checksum but make it algorithm-agnostic. 😌

If you don't hand it any files? no problem, no stress — stdin is right there waiting for you, and you can just pipe stuff in. 🎀

Any digest algorithm available in libusecure may be selected and used. literally whatever's in there, bestie, it's all on the menu. 👑

And the iconic part: you can also have it examine and compute entire directory trees using the -R (--recursive) option. it'll go down the whole tree like a nosy bestie reading your group chat. 🕵️♀️🌳

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --digest=name — tell it which digest algorithm to use by name. default is md5 … UNLESS you ran the command through a symlink whose name happens to match an algorithm name, in which case that one gets used instead. sneaky. clever. iconic. ✨
• --follow — dereference and follow symlinks. and if you don't pass this? the symlinks are ignored. they get no attention, no seat at the table. 🙈
• --recursive — if an argument is a directory, recursively scan that directory and any subdirectory contents as arguments. the -R short form from the DESCRIPTION, same energy. 🔥
• --help — outputs the help screen for the user. i.e. it explains itself to you, which honestly? relatable. 🫶

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

mdsum was written by David Sugar <dyfet@gnutelephony.org>. king behavior. 🎀

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😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

Found a bug? do NOT suffer in silence, bestie. report it to:

• bug-commoncpp@gnu.org
• bugs@gnutelephony.org

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⭐ COPYRIGHT ⭐

Copyright © 2010-2014 David Sugar, Tycho Softworks.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 💀 like, zero warranty, none, nada. don't come for them if it breaks, fr fr.

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🧚 this one ships as part of GNU uCommon, dated January 2010, and yeah — it's still the mdsum(1) page. go forth and digest. 🌈💖