How to validate shntool md5s?

[irishcrazy2005]

Okay, so I am getting a show ready to seed (I actually can use BT while I am home for Christmas break!), and it is in .shn format. So, I figured out how to create a shntool md5, but now I am wondering (not that I need it right now, but I'm just curious) how to check the validity of files using this little text file. Thanks in advance .

-Phil

[Five]

The audiophillia SHNtool frontend will have this capability soon, read about it here:
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...ead.php?t=1405

until then, RainDawg could probably answer this question...

[readicculus]

You just visually compare the shntool md5 info. Take a look at the shntool md5 for the known good seed, and compare that against the info generated by "shntool md5", or a tool that can generate shntool md5 data, like Audophilia I suppose. That's the only current method I know of.

If the numbers (the checksum) matches for every file then they match. This checksum is the fingerprint for the actual music data inside any sort of lossless container like flac or shn, no matter what the format, seekable, matedata changes to the lossless file, the shntool md5 will remain the same.

dd7c2bc1e7d086cc7bbe5587706d8487 [shntool] ph93-02-03D1T01.flac

So if I ran the same thing on a file of the same thing (same exact WAV file) in SHN it would still match.

[U2Lynne]

Actually, if you are on a Mac, you would use an shntool md5 checksum the same was you would a wholefile checksum. xACT will take the file and verify the shns for you. Or, edit the file and change shn to aiff and then save it and it will verify your aiffs for you after you convert them. And then, go convert them to flac to seed (hehe) and you can simply change the extension once again to flac and verify the flac files or simply generate the ffps for the seed and do a visual comparison of the shntool checksum and the ffps and you will see that they are the same!

I'm not sure why you would do things this way. Either create a whole-file md5 for the shns the conventional way, or seed it in FLAC format with a FLAC fingerprint.

I see that policy requires a shntool md5 to be included for non-FLAC files. That would be a good idea if a tool existed for easily confirming files based on the shntool md5, but afaik no such tool exists yet (and I've been waiting for a long time). So frankly I'm not sure why this is required.

[Five]

When you create a SHNtool md5 the numbers match the FLAC fingerprint no matter what the format is. A SHNtool md5 is like a FLAC fingerprint for any format which stays the same so long as the source WAV audio is the same. If they invent a new format with even better compression the SHNtool md5s will still be valid. It can be tricky verifying a wholefile md5 for a show in SHN format after it's been converted... all the settings have to be exact, not to mention the time this takes. We haven't been heavily enforcing the SHNtool md5 rule becuase of the difficulty many people have with command line interfaces. RainDawg is working on a frontend for SHNtool that will make it easier for everyone, but it's still in the early stages of development.
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...ead.php?t=1405

[U2Lynne]

Originally Posted by deep_elem

I see that policy requires a shntool md5 to be included for non-FLAC files. That would be a good idea if a tool existed for easily confirming files based on the shntool md5, but afaik no such tool exists yet (and I've been waiting for a long time). So frankly I'm not sure why this is required.

Not true. A tool does exist for Mac users. xACT will do an shntool md5 check on your files just fine. It's just you PC people who can't do it easily yet.

Since most users are PC users the shntool md5 still remains impractical.

Yes I understand that a shntool md5 is the same as a flac fingerprint but since no one is actually archiving these shntool md5's ala etree.org I fail to see the benefit of using them over whole-file md5's when trading SHNs until such time as a verification tool for Windows users hits the market.

[Five]

Originally Posted by deep_elem

Since most users are PC users the shntool md5 still remains impractical.

Yes I understand that a shntool md5 is the same as a flac fingerprint but since no one is actually archiving these shntool md5's ala etree.org I fail to see the benefit of using them over whole-file md5's when trading SHNs until such time as a verification tool for Windows users hits the market.

umm... for now, include the wholefile md5 as well, then when the PC app arrives and we're positive it works perfectly the old wholefile md5s can be dropped. Then people can verify versions of shows that have been converted a lot more reliably. Who would have guessed that SHNtool could rid the world of SHN??

[Greengoat]

Ran into several errors when working with a whole-file md5 of the Beatles 30 Days sey. The problem was that the file names where too long to be burned on a disc, so they where cut off when they where seeded. No biggy since it doesn't affect the files, just how they check out in the md5. This doesn't happen if you create shntool md5(fingerprints).

How come with flac they are called fingerprints, and shntool they are called md5's? How about shntool footprints?