bug#6056: base32 output for md5sum sha1sum etc. (original) (raw)

[Top][All Lists]

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

From: Alan Curry
Subject: bug#6056: base32 output for md5sum sha1sum etc.
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:49:39 -0500 (GMT+5)

Jim Meyering writes:

tags 6056 + moreinfo

I've given all the moreinfo I could. I thought "It's a standards-track RFC" plus "seen in the wild" would have been enough. And the applications where it's relevant (Gnutella, Bitzi) are pretty well-known.

> md5sum ... | _> perl -anle 'use Convert::Base32;_ > h32=3Duc(encodebase32(pack("H40",h32=3Duc(encodebase32(pack("H40", h32=3Duc(encodebase32(pack("H40",F[0]))); print "$h32 $F[1]";'

This is a strong argument not to encumber the tool with a new option.

Since it's broken, I saw it as an argument the other way. The "16to32" converter is just complex enough that attempts to do it freehand will not quite be right.

But seeing a GNU maintainer argue against a new option based on the bloat/benefit ratio is a pleasant surprise. From the people who gave us sed -i (that's just a redirect and a mv) and grep -r (why learn to use find when you can just add recursion to every tool). I don't want to fight this trend too hard.

-- Alan Curry