It was discussed at http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils/2014-04/msg00025.html and thought simple enough already by doing:
md5sum < the_file | cut -b1-32 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to coreutils in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1453009 Title: add option to get the md5 checksum only Status in coreutils package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: It's currently not possible to retrieve the md5 checksum of a file only<ref>http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3679296/only-get-hash- value-using-md5sum-without-filename</ref>, so that external tools have to be used. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04 Package: coreutils 8.23-3ubuntu1 Uname: Linux 4.0.1-040001-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Fri May 8 09:16:33 2015 EcryptfsInUse: Yes InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-04-02 (35 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Beta amd64 (20150326) ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: coreutils SystemImageInfo: current build number: 0 device name: channel: daily last update: Unknown UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/coreutils/+bug/1453009/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp