84 LXF260 March 2020 http://www.linuxformat.comHOTPICKS
INTEGRITY VERIFIER
FILESYSTEM
Don’t forget to
check the integrity
of backed-up files
in order to avoid
possible corruption.here are many ways to check the integrity of a
downloaded file. In those cases when we use
Windows, HashTab is good (it adds an extra tab
to the file properties dialog). In Linux it’s the command
line md5sum and the graphical GtkHash. If you need
more features or smoother exterior, try QtHashSum.
This small and practical accessory looks like a Swiss
Army knife. A one-person project created by Faraz
Fallahi, QtHashSum offers a lot more than just a hash
checker. We examined all its features and concluded
that excessiveness isn’t always a negative trait.
QtHashSum has five tabs, each for a specific
purpose. The first one does the main thing: it calculates
checksums using MD5, SHA1, SHA2 and SHA3. It’s up
to you to decide what algorithm will be used, and it is
also possible to select several options at once. Make the
choice, select the source file and hit Start – QtHashSum
will show a separate window with results.
The second tab is Create Digest, which searches for
duplicate files. Select a directory, a hash method out of
several options that include flavour of MD4, MD5, SHA3QtHashSum
and KECCAK, and an output format. This feature
doesn’t modify your filesystem in any way – it only
suggests duplicate files based on matching hash sums.
The third tab is for Settings – it is currently only
possible to define the number of CPU cores engaged in
hash calculations. Then there’s the About tab, and
finally the last one is Restic! Much to our surprise,
QtHashSum sports a neat integration with Rest, a
robust backup system written in Go (https:// github.
com/restic/restic). To make things work for you, it is
important to edit the path to the ‘restic’ executable,
define source and target paths and optionally change
some Restic parameters (see the FORGET field).Version: 1.6.0 Web: https://github.com/
fffaraz/QtHashSumn the 2000s ReiserFS was a promising
filesystem that successfully competed with
ext3 in offering robust performance while
maintaining high stability and data integrity. In fact,
ReiserFS used to be the first journalled filesystem
included in the Linux kernel (it was v2.4.1). It was widely
used as a default FS in a variety of Linux distributions,
such as Novell Desktop and SUSE. But, in 2008 Hans
Reiser, the main developer, was sentenced to 15 years to
life in prison, and as such the development of ReiserFS3
and Reiser4 stalled. During the last decade the only
contributor has been Edward Shishkin, who picked up
the current Reiser4 development.
This FS has long been out of the mainline Linux
kernel, and it is still considered ‘not ready’ to merge with
it. To give Reiser4 a try, you should apply a patch to the
Linux kernel and get the supplementary reiser4progs
package with essential utilities. Manual patching is the
biggest obstacle for many mortals, but some Linux
distros (openSUSE, Rosa, etc.) provide custom kernels
with Reiser4 included.Reiser5
So is the game worth the candles? Reiser5 came as a
surprise at the end of 2019, and it delivers some
promising features. The cornerstone of Reiser5 is the
new design of aggregating block devices into logical
volumes. The latest white paper by Edward Shishkin
explains that his new scaling method, called ‘fiber-
striping’, eliminates traditional LVM bottlenecks and
maintains a balanced and stable logical volume. Reiser5
offers parallel scaling out, performed by filesystem
means rather than block layer means. When testing on
a local machine, it’s important to create a logical volume
with several partitions inside.
The new scaling out method is a good chance for
Reiser5 to advance and attract better sponsorship, and
we hope that the controversial name will be changed too.Version: 5.0 Web: https://sourceforge.
net/projects/reiser4We’d rather call
it the Shishkin5
filesystem and
recommend it for
experimenting with
logical volumes.I
T
84 LXF260March 2020 8882March 0Tint2y0iHOTPICKS
INTEGRITYVERIFIER
FILESYSTEM
Don’tforgetto
checktheintegrity
ofbacked-upfiles
inordertoavoid
possiblecorruption.here are many ways to check the integrity of a
downloaded file. In those cases when we use
Windows, HashTab is good (it adds an extra tab
tothefile properties dialog). In Linux it’s the command
line md5sum and the graphical GtkHash. If you need
more features or smoother exterior, try QtHashSum.
This small and practical accessory looks like a Swiss
Army knife. A one-person project created by Faraz
Fallahi, QtHashSum offers a lot more than just a hash
checker. We examined all its features and concluded
that excessiveness isn’t always a negative trait.
QtHashSum has five tabs, each for a specific
purpose. The first one does the main thing: it calculates
checksums using MD5, SHA1, SHA2 and SHA3. It’s up
to you to decide what algorithm will be used, and it is
also possible to select several options at once. Make the
choice, select the source file and hit Start – QtHashSum
will show a separate window with results.
The second tab is Create Digest, which searches for
duplicate files. Select a directory, a hash method out of
several options that include flavour of MD4, MD5, SHA3QtHashSum
and KECCAK, and an output format. This feature
doesn’t modify your filesystem in any way – it only
suggests duplicate files based on matching hash sums.
The third tab is for Settings – it is currently only
possible to define the number of CPU cores engaged in
hash calculations. Then there’s the About tab, and
finally the last one is Restic! Much to our surprise,
QtHashSum sports a neat integration with Rest, a
robust backup system written in Go (https:// github.
com/restic/restic). To make things work for you, it is
important to edit the path to the ‘restic’ executable,
define source and target paths and optionally change
some Restic parameters (see the FORGET field).Version: 1.6.0 Web: https://github.com/
fffaraz/QtHashSum
n the 2000s ReiserFS was a promising
filesystem that successfully competed with
ext3 in offering robust performance while
maintaining high stability and data integrity. In fact,
ReiserFS used to be the first journalled filesystem
included in the Linux kernel (it was v2.4.1). It was widely
used as a default FS in a variety of Linux distributions,
such as Novell Desktop and SUSE. But, in 2008 Hans
Reiser, the main developer, was sentenced to 15 years to
life in prison, and as such the development of ReiserFS3
and Reiser4 stalled. During the last decade the only
contributor has been Edward Shishkin, who picked up
the current Reiser4 development.
This FS has long been out of the mainline Linux
kernel, and it is still considered ‘not ready’ to merge with
it. To give Reiser4 a try, you should apply a patch to the
Linux kernel and get the supplementary reiser4progs
package with essential utilities. Manual patching is the
biggest obstacle for many mortals, but some Linux
distros (openSUSE, Rosa, etc.) provide custom kernels
with Reiser4 included.Reiser5
So is the game worth the candles? Reiser5 came as a
surprise at the end of 2019, and it delivers some
promising features. The cornerstone of Reiser5 is the
new design of aggregating block devices into logical
volumes. The latest white paper by Edward Shishkin
explains that his new scaling method, called ‘fiber-
striping’, eliminates traditional LVM bottlenecks and
maintains a balanced and stable logical volume. Reiser5
offers parallel scaling out, performed by filesystem
means rather than block layer means. When testing on
a local machine, it’s important to create a logical volume
with several partitions inside.
The new scaling out method is a good chance for
Reiser5 to advance and attract better sponsorship, and
we hope that the controversial name will be changed too.Version: 5.0 Web: https://sourceforge.
net/projects/reiser4We’d rather call
it the Shishkin5
filesystem and
recommend it for
experimenting with
logical volumes.I
T