Re: [PATCH] cksum: add --raw option to output a binary digest

[Jim Meyering]

On Sat, Feb 4, 2023 at 5:52 AM Pádraig Brady <P@draigbrady.com> wrote:
>
> --raw output is the most composable format, and also is a
> robust way to discard the file name without parsing (escaped) output.

Very nice. I applied it and ran all tests, and distcheck. All passed.
TIny suggestions:

> diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
> index 4d7d9439d..536301d63 100644
> --- a/doc/coreutils.texi
> +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
> @@ -4059,6 +4059,14 @@ input digest string as what is output.  I.e., removing 
> or adding any
>  @opindex --debug
>  Output extra information to stderr, like the checksum implementation being 
> used.
>
> +@item --raw
> +@opindex --raw
> +@cindex raw binary checksum
> +Print an unencoded raw binary digest, not hexadecimal.
> +No file name or other information is output in this mode.
> +Bytes are output in network byte order (big endian).
> +This option is ignored with @option{--check}.

Maybe insert "only" and use active voice, and do mention the "only one
input" limit:

  Print only the unencoded raw binary digest for a single file.
  Do not output the file name or anything else.
  Use network byte order (big endian) where applicable: for bsd, crc and sysv.
  This option is ignored with @option{--check} and works only with a
single input.

Is it worth saying explicitly that unlike other output formats, cksum
provides no way to check a --raw checksum?