I keep having wrong checksum in 6.1 iso download (what should I do??)

Adrian Pavone wingot at eftel.com
Sat May 13 00:05:42 PDT 2006


Nick Withers wrote:

>On Fri, 12 May 2006 21:51:02 -0700 (PDT)
>Mark Jayson Alvarez <jay2xra at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>It was my second time to download a 6.1 iso from one
>>of the regional ftp sites.. Lucky we have a slightly
>>fast connection (155Mbps)...
>>    
>>
>
>Slightly fast? What do you call fast? :-)
>
>  
>
>>By the way, is it really dangerous to ignore these checksums
>>that doesn't match with the published one? What's the reason
>>behind this bad checksum mismatch??.
>>    
>>
>
>It generally indicates that the file was corrupted during
>transmission. It could, however, happen because the site you're
>downloading from is serving a corrupt version.
>
>A checksum mismatch basically indicates that the file is not as
>it should be. You may still be able to use it without any
>adverse impact, but then again, you may not. It's also possible
>that someone has intentionally corrupted the file for sinister
>purposes.
>
>I'd strongly recommend not using it. It's probably worth trying
>to download the file again, from another mirror.
>
>  
>
>>Thanks
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
 From what I read about the checksums for 6.1, the checksum was 
generated with a checksum actually being present in the ISO (which was 
then overwritten by the newly developed checksum). As such, the checksum 
will never match, as a checksum can never match if it is included in the 
file that is being checksummed (well, in theory, it is possible for it 
to match, but the algorithm to calculate it and processing power 
required is astronomically complex).

It is possible I am thinking of a different FreeBSD ISO, but I am sure 
it was one of the 6's, and there are only 2 of those.

Regards,
Adrian


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