Binary mode for checksums: should it be used by default?
by Projectile from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6DN2C)
Checksum utilities such as md5sum, sha512sum, b2sum etc. have a "binary" flag. What it does is add an asterisk before the filename, signifying it's treated as a binary file and not a text file.
Code:$ md5sum hello.txt
e134ced312b3511d88943d57ccd70c83 hello.txt
$ md5sum hello.txt --binary
e134ced312b3511d88943d57ccd70c83 *hello.txtWhile I understand the technical reasons why doing this isn't necessary on Linux (text files are treated like binary files) it does feel wrong to me that binary mode isn't used for ISOs and other non-text files.
In my personal opinion, binary mode should be the standard mode; I'd like to hear your opinions.
Code:$ md5sum hello.txt
e134ced312b3511d88943d57ccd70c83 hello.txt
$ md5sum hello.txt --binary
e134ced312b3511d88943d57ccd70c83 *hello.txtWhile I understand the technical reasons why doing this isn't necessary on Linux (text files are treated like binary files) it does feel wrong to me that binary mode isn't used for ISOs and other non-text files.
In my personal opinion, binary mode should be the standard mode; I'd like to hear your opinions.