path: root/doc/manual/nix-hash.xml

<refentry xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
          xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  
<refnamediv>
  <refname>nix-hash</refname>
  <refpurpose>compute the cryptographic hash of a path</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>

<refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
    <command>nix-hash</command>
    <arg><option>--flat</option></arg>
    <arg><option>--base32</option></arg>
    <arg><option>--truncate</option></arg>
    <arg><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></arg>
    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>path</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
  <cmdsynopsis>
    <command>nix-hash</command>
    <arg choice='plain'><option>--to-base16</option></arg>
    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>hash</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
  <cmdsynopsis>
    <command>nix-hash</command>
    <arg choice='plain'><option>--to-base32</option></arg>
    <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>hash</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
</refsynopsisdiv>


<refsection><title>Description</title>

<para>The command <command>nix-hash</command> computes the
cryptographic hash of the contents of each
<replaceable>path</replaceable> and prints it on standard output.  By
default, it computes an MD5 hash, but other hash algorithms are
available as well.  The hash is printed in hexadecimal.</para>

<para>The hash is computed over a <emphasis>serialisation</emphasis>
of each path: a dump of the file system tree rooted at the path.  This
allows directories and symlinks to be hashed as well as regular files.
The dump is in the <emphasis>NAR format</emphasis> produced by <link
linkend="refsec-nix-store-dump"><command>nix-store</command>
<option>--dump</option></link>.  Thus, <literal>nix-hash
<replaceable>path</replaceable></literal> yields the same
cryptographic hash as <literal>nix-store --dump
<replaceable>path</replaceable> | md5sum</literal>.</para>

</refsection>


<refsection><title>Options</title>

<variablelist>
  
  <varlistentry><term><option>--flat</option></term>

    <listitem><para>Print the cryptographic hash of the contents of
    each regular file <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  That is, do
    not compute the hash over the dump of
    <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  The result is identical to that
    produced by the GNU commands <command>md5sum</command> and
    <command>sha1sum</command>.</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

  <varlistentry><term><option>--base32</option></term>

    <listitem><para>Print the hash in a base-32 representation rather
    than hexadecimal.  This base-32 representation is more compact and
    can be used in Nix expressions (such as in calls to
    <function>fetchurl</function>).</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

  <varlistentry><term><option>--truncate</option></term>

    <listitem><para>Truncate hashes longer than 160 bits (such as
    SHA-256) to 160 bits.</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

  <varlistentry><term><option>--type</option> <replaceable>hashAlgo</replaceable></term>

    <listitem><para>Specify a cryptographic hash, which can be one of
    <literal>md5</literal>, <literal>sha1</literal>, and
    <literal>sha256</literal>.</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

  <varlistentry><term><option>--to-base16</option></term>

    <listitem><para>Don’t hash anything, but convert the base-32 hash
    representation <replaceable>hash</replaceable> to
    hexadecimal.</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

  <varlistentry><term><option>--to-base32</option></term>

    <listitem><para>Don’t hash anything, but convert the hexadecimal
    hash representation <replaceable>hash</replaceable> to
    base-32.</para></listitem>

  </varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</refsection>


<refsection><title>Examples</title>

<para>Computing hashes:

<screen>
$ mkdir test
$ echo "hello" > test/world

$ nix-hash test/ <lineannotation>(MD5 hash; default)</lineannotation>
8179d3caeff1869b5ba1744e5a245c04

$ nix-store --dump test/ | md5sum <lineannotation>(for comparison)</lineannotation>
8179d3caeff1869b5ba1744e5a245c04  -

$ nix-hash --type sha1 test/
e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6

$ nix-hash --type sha1 --base32 test/
nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4

$ nix-hash --type sha256 --flat test/
error: reading file `test/': Is a directory

$ nix-hash --type sha256 --flat test/world
5891b5b522d5df086d0ff0b110fbd9d21bb4fc7163af34d08286a2e846f6be03</screen>

</para>

<para>Converting between hexadecimal and base-32:

<screen>
$ nix-hash --type sha1 --to-base32 e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6
nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4

$ nix-hash --type sha1 --to-base16 nvd61k9nalji1zl9rrdfmsmvyyjqpzg4
e4fd8ba5f7bbeaea5ace89fe10255536cd60dab6</screen>

</para>

</refsection>


</refentry>