On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:47:24 -0700, sri wrote:

> Hi,
>
> what is md5sum?
>
> I see it in all distro cds.
>
> what is the use of it?
>
> please explain it..

It is a utility used to generate a unique hexadecimal number, a checksum,
of a file. It is used primarily to verify that a downloaded file is the
exact duplicate of the original file, that is, the downloaded file has no
errors.

sha1sum is also another popular checksum generator.

Stef