Technology Microsoft Software & solutions

How to Calculate Checksum Procedures

    • 1). Determine that there is published checksum data for the file you wish to check. The file vlc-data_1.1.3-1squeeze6_all.deb is available at http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/all/vlc-data/download. On the download page are MD5, SHA1, and SHA256 checksums for the file. The MD5 checksum is c3d87384619652e404a929f35c9c28a1.

    • 2). Download the file.

    • 3). Calculate the checksum of the downloaded file by invoking md5sum followed by the file name. If vlc-data_1.1.3-1squeeze6_all.deb was downloaded to the directory /var/cache/apt/archives, then type at the command line (the # sign is the prompt and not part of what you would type): # md5sum /var/cache/apt/archives/vlc-data_1.1.3-1squeeze6_all.deb

    • 4). Verify that the result given to you by the checksum utility is the same value as the published result. The output from the command in the previous step should be c3d87384619652e404a929f35c9c28a1. If it is not, then the file has been either corrupted in transmission or tampered with.

Leave a reply