Checking software: PGP, MD5 etc..

tarballed · 07-23-2003, 12:53 PM

Ok, i've been meaning to ask this for quite some time now but i have not gotten around to it.

Here is my question:

Anytime you download software for Linux, there is also a corresponding PGP file, MD5 or some other file that is used to check to make sure the software you downloaded is correct.

I was wondering if someone can give me a crash course on how to do this and use the files correctly, or point me in the direction of a how-to of some sort.

Thanks guys.

Tar

youngstorm · 07-23-2003, 01:22 PM

Hi,
MD5 is easy. Let's say you want to download a file called test.rpm.
On the page where you download it, it gives you this:

md5sum
test.rpm - 6e175f736c6eb485932e8f3b8fda535a

you download test.rpm then type " md5sum test.rpm"
If the number it gives you is the same as the number on the website, the
file is cool.
It the number is different, then something is different about the file.
Could be that the file got corrupt while downloading or it could be that
someone has tampered with that file by adding a trogen horse or root kit
or something else that is bad.
Try redownloading it and rerun the md5sum command.
If the numbers still dont match then contact the maintainer of that file or
site.
Note that this is the very short and sweet of it. Many books have by wrote
on this suject.
If you need more info let me know.
Michael