TABLE OF CONTENTS
   Description
   Download
   About the Author
   Acknowledgements
   Copyright

With Multihash the user is given the freedom to compute hash values using combinations of algorithms. Multihash offers the same core features as similar tools while adding many features not currently found elsewhere:

• Find-mode: Instead of hashing the command-line arguments, treat them as lists of files to be hashed.
• Match-mode: Compare the hashes of two files, or recursively compare two directory structures.
• Uses the OpenSSL library to support fast and efficeint hash value generation, optimized for multiple platforms.
• Compute hash values from different algorithms in parallel for maximum efficeincy.
• Support for md5sum, md5deep, and OpenSSL output-modes for drop-in compatability.

For a full list of features, their uses, and examples please see the man page.

Multihash is able to offer all this while maintaining performance comparable to other tools. When using recursive mode Multihash is able to match performance with md5deep. Using the OpenSSL library means Multihash has to pay a higher process creation cost than tools with in-core hash functions. This causes benchmarks involving many processes (such as the -exec find(1) option) to suffer. However, when inputs are aggregated using the xargs(1) utility Multihash will perform as well as other tools. Multihash also offers the find-mode alternative to cust the cost of process creation down. In the future, once the rest of the code has had a chance to air out, I hope to move to some more time saving techniques.

Current Version: 0.2.0

Alternatively you can download the latest version from the SourceForge CVS server by using the following command:

After downloading the latest source tree follow the instructions in the INSTALL file. For the CVS revision history you can check out the online cvs browser

Ryan Sommers is a computer forensic examiner and consultant for Stroz Friedberg, LLC. He graduated December 2004 from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. Over the years Ryan has spent much time doing application and operating system development on the UNIX and Linux operating systems; he also has an extensive familiarity with the FreeBSD operating system.

  Copyright (C) 2005 Ryan Sommers <ryans a.t rpsommers.com>. All rights reserved.

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:
  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
     documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
  ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
  IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
  ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
  FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
  DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
  OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
  HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
  OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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