Re: Could timestamps be replaced with MD5?

[Brian Huddleston]

> Depending on the checksum algorithm, just the checksum is pretty tight.
> Perhaps I'm spoiled by not having to work across very slow links, but
> I'd still rather waste some time in the relatively rare case where the
> timestamps have been messed with than take a chance on losing changes
> because the modified file just happens to have the same checksum as the
> original (since, no matter how unlikely it is to occur in theory,
> Murphy's law guarantees that it will happen in practice, at the worst
> possible time).

But if you're using any decent digest algorhytm, the statistical likelihood
of a digest
algorhytm biting you is (very conservatively)several orders of magnitude
less likely to bite you than timestamps.  (See my previous message).

Brian Huddleston
Huddleston Consulting