Introduction

MD5 hashing allows you to verify the integrity of a file. In short, it creates a fingerprint that helps you verify (after a transfer, for example) whether the file arrived correctly and is not corrupted.

Today, MD5 encryption has been broken, and it’s possible to simulate a fake fingerprint. Therefore, you should be careful about how you use it. Personally, I use it to verify the integrity of downloaded files (as it’s a very common method). For example, when I download Sun Cluster, I verify the MD5 hash to ensure the installation is complete and not corrupted.

Obtaining an MD5 Hash

A Word

To encrypt a password in MD5, it’s not very complicated, but when you don’t do it every day, you might not remember how. So here it is:

  echo -n password | md5sum

A File on Linux

On Linux, the md5sum command is used:

  md5sum /bin/ls
c854f8350b2a2873d4c2635813a797cc  /bin/ls

A File on Solaris

On Solaris, we’ll use the digest command to calculate the MD5 hash:

  $ digest -a md5 -v /bin/ls
md5 (/bin/ls) = b57e173220af4b919f1d4bef9db11482
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Last updated 17 Dec 2008, 16:51 +0200. history