xref: /freebsd/lib/libmd/mdX.3 (revision e627b39baccd1ec9129690167cf5e6d860509655)
1.\"
2.\" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.\" "THE BEER-WARE LICENSE" (Revision 42):
4.\" <phk@login.dkuug.dk> wrote this file.  As long as you retain this notice you
5.\" can do whatever you want with this stuff. If we meet some day, and you think
6.\" this stuff is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return.   Poul-Henning Kamp
7.\" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.\"
9.\" $FreeBSD$
10.\"
11.Dd July 14, 1994
12.Dt MDX 3
13.Os FreeBSD 2
14.Sh NAME
15.Nm MDXInit ,
16.Nm MDXUpdate ,
17.Nm MDXFinal ,
18.Nm MDXEnd ,
19.Nm MDXFile ,
20.Nm MDXData
21.Nd calculate ``MDX'' cryptographic checksum
22.Sh SYNOPSIS
23.Fd #include <mdX.h>
24.Ft void
25.Fn MDXInit "MDX_CTX *context"
26.Ft void
27.Fn MDXUpdate "MDX_CTX *context" "unsigned char *data" "unsigned int len"
28.Ft void
29.Fn MDXFinal "unsigned char digest[16]" "MDX_CTX *context"
30.Ft "char *"
31.Fn MDXEnd "MDX_CTX *context" "char *buf"
32.Ft "char *"
33.Fn MDXFile "char *filename" "char *buf"
34.Ft "char *"
35.Fn MDXData "unsigned char *data" "unsigned int len" "char *buf"
36.Sh DESCRIPTION
37The MDX functions calculate a 128-bit cryptographic checksum (digest)
38for any number of input bytes.  A cryptographic checksum is a one-way
39hash-function, that is, you cannot find (except by exhaustive search)
40the input corresponding to a particular output.  This net result is
41a ``fingerprint'' of the input-data, which doesn't disclose the actual
42input.
43
44MD2 is the slowest, MD4 is the fastest and MD5 is somewhere in the middle.
45MD2 can only be used for Privacy-Enhanced Mail.
46MD4 has been critizised for being to weak, and MD5 was developed as a
47response to this as ``MD4 with safety-belts''.  If in doubt, use MD5.
48
49The
50.Fn MDXInit ,
51.Fn MDXUpdate
52and
53.Fn MDXFinal
54functions are the core functions.  Allocate a MDX_CTX, initialize it with
55.Fn MDXInit
56run over the data with
57.Fn MDXUpdate
58and finally extract the result using
59.Fn MDXFinal .
60
61.Fn MDXEnd
62is a wrapper for
63.Fn MDXFinal ,
64which converts the return value to a 33 character (incl terminating NULL)
65ascii string which represents the 128 bits in hexadecimal.
66
67.Fn MDXFile
68calculates the digest of a file, and uses
69.Fn MDXEnd
70to return the result.
71In case the file cannot be opened, NULL is returned.
72
73.Fn MDXData
74calculates the digest of a chunk of data in memory, and uses
75.Fn MDXEnd
76to return the result.
77
78When using
79.Fn MDXEnd ,
80.Fn MDXFile
81or
82.Fn MDXData ,
83the
84.Ar buf
85argument can be NULL, in which case the returned string is allocated with
86.Xr malloc 3
87and subsequently must be explicitly deallocated using
88.Xr free 3
89after use.
90If the
91.Ar buf
92argument isn't NULL it must point to at least 33 characters of buffer space.
93.Sh SEE ALSO
94.Xr md2 3 ,
95.Xr md4 3 ,
96.Xr md5 3
97.Pp
98ISOC
99Internet Request For Comments
100.%T RFC1319 ,
101.%T RFC1320
102and
103.%T RFC1321 .
104.Pp
105RSA Laboratories
106.%T Frequently Asked Questions About today's Cryptography .
107.Sh AUTHOR
108The MD2, MD4 and MD5 is designed and written by Ron Rivest and published in
109the above RFC's, including a reference implementation of each algorithm.
110
111This code is derived directly from these implementations by Poul-Henning Kamp
112<phk@login.dkuug.dk>
113
114Phk ristede runen.
115.Sh HISTORY
116These functions appeared in
117.Fx 2.0 .
118.Sh BUGS
119No method is known to exist which finds two files having the same hash value,
120nor to find a file with a specific hash value.
121There is on the other hand no guarantee that such a method doesn't exist.
122
123MD2 has only been released for use in Privacy Enhanced eMail.
124Use MD4 or MD5 if that isn't what you're doing.
125.Sh COPYRIGHT
126