>>>>> "Jani" == Jani Partanen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

Jani> Every time when you hash something what is bigger than your
Jani> returned hash, there can be collision.

The odds of a collision with a cryptographically strong hash are
infinitesimal.

Sha1 is not perfect, but even if its actual strength is closer to say 72
bits than its theoretical maximum strength (which is 80 bits for a 160
bit long hash), the odds of a collision are two small to worry about.

You still talking about one chance in on the order of 100000000000000000000.

The sha2 family does provide more bits.  And whirlpool¹ seems to have
consensus as the “best” choice currently available.  But sha1 is still
good enough for general use.  

-JimC

1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_(cryptography)
   http://planeta.terra.com.br/informatica/paulobarreto/WhirlpoolPage.html
   ISO/IEC 10118-3 http://www.incits.org/ref-docs/FDIS_10118-3.pdf

-- 
James Cloos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>         OpenPGP: 1024D/ED7DAEA6
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