Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:30:15 +0100 From: "C. P. Ghost" <cpghost@cordula.ws> To: Ffflee Ffflee <ffflee_ffflee@yahoo.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: about the checksum Message-ID: <d74eb87c1002261830qadae6di9bee36eba8f20554@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <BAY126-DS4FF0AA88C9F03BD2A8C5CCA3F0@phx.gbl> References: <478355.21984.qm@web57501.mail.re1.yahoo.com> <BAY126-DS4FF0AA88C9F03BD2A8C5CCA3F0@phx.gbl>
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On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:21 PM, Sean Cavanaugh <Millenia2000@hotmail.com> wrote: > they are there so you can compare the real checksum hash for the .ISO file > against what you downloaded as a way to make sure you downloaded every > single bit of the file or if it has been changed. There are many reasons for checksum files. The main one is -- IMHO -- that people often forget to download the ISO files in BINARY mode, which would clobber the file beyond all recognition. Not so much of a concern nowadays with most downloaders (browers etc...) using binary mode, but it was a big issue back in the FTP days. With a checksum file, you can verify that the ISO is an exact copy of the one you've downloaded. Just run the appropriate checksum command on your end, and compare it to the contents of the checksum file (which, btw, is tiny compared to the ISO!). If both checksums are different, don't use the ISO file, because it was corrupted, and it won't work anyway. -cpghost. -- Cordula's Web. http://www.cordula.ws/
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