I have some suggestions for OpenOffice.org's use of MD5 sums.

http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.1/md5sums.html

http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html

"Md5Sums are used to establish the code integrity of software you download.
Using the md5sums grants you more security."

There is a cool Firefox extension (cross platform) called MD Hash Tool that
works with MD5/SHA-1 sums. ( http://mdhashtool.mozdev.org/index.html ). You
add #!md5! onto the end of a link like:

http://mirrors.isc.org/pub/openoffice/stable/2.0.1/OOo_2.0.1_Win32Intel_inst
all.exe#!md5!66bd00e43ff8b932c14140472c4b8cc6

Once the file is downloaded you can "Check Digest" and it will compare the
actual one w/ what it should be.

Even if you don't have the #!md5! on the end of the URL, you can check the
digest & you could visually compare that w/ whats on the OOo page or copy &
paste it into the MD hash tool & it will verify it. I just used it on an OOo
download the way it is set up now. This might be easier/simpler than the 8
step process for Windows where there is no md5sum utility included by
default. I realize you still have to install the extension, but it might be
less scary than a command line tool. It would go something like: 

1 Install extension, restart FF. 
2 Download file.
3 Under "Downloads" (press Control-J if you don't see it) right click the
file then "Check Digest."
4 Paste MD5 sum into "Reference Digest" space.
5 If a green light and "match" are displayed, the file is correct. If a red
X and "no match" are displayed, there was an error.

I have also proposed a hash "microformat" at
http://microformats.org/wiki/hash-examples which is slightly different. The
MD5 sum is visible in the page but also marked up so as to be easily machine
readable. Ooo doesn't offer direct download links tho, so I don't think this
would work.

ant

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