checksum 1.6.0.8

I am proud to announce another checksum release.

There are way too many changes to list. Some of the highlights..
  • Custom startup and exit commands.
  • Task scheduler wizard.
  • Search & verify individual hashes.
  • Directory exclude masks.
  • Email on hash failure.
  • And much more!

Full details in the itstory.

You can grab the latest checksum (and simple checksum) from the usual place.

for now..

;o)

checksum 1.6.0.6

Another Beta release of checksum is available.

NOTE: to get version update notifications for beta releases, enable the beta_channel preference.

Changes..

$++ Mail Notification on hash failures.

	Yes! checksum can mail you when it detects errors in your files;
	especially handy for scheduled tasks running while you are away or
	otherwise engaged.

	Your mail preferences can be edited from a cute GUI available from
	checksum's System Tray menu (while one-shot verify options window is
	open). It can do CC, BCC, SSL, single and multiple file attachments,
	mail priority, all the usual goodies. (it uses the built-in Windows CDO
	mail sending functions)

	I've tested it successfully with a few outgoing servers including gmx
	and gmail (both using SSL on the standard port: 465) as well as my own
	local Linux sendmail.

	To attach files, you can either enter the full path of the file(s) into
	the attachment input (separate multiple files with semi-colons ";"), or
	else click the label "Attachments" to browse for files (which will be
	appended to your current input), or else drag & drop files directly onto
	the input (which replaces the current input).

	NOTE: You can use the "@log" token (no quotes) to attach the final log
	to the email - most useful! e.g..

		@log;C:\some\other\file.txt;C:\and\another.png

	Attaching you log file, as well as being extremely useful, has the added
	bonus of (assuming you have inline attachments and HTML enabled in your
	mail client) making the entire mail look cool like a checksum log!

	Finally, you can also save mail settings as presets for later recall.
	This makes it easy to switch between mail servers, if required.

+   The Mail-On-Fail dialog is also resizable, like the create options, for
	the same (accessibility) reasons, and with corresponding checksum.ini
	hacks available for permanent resizing (these are the minimum values)..

		mail_options_width=265
		mail_options_height=360

+   BAD files (those which appear to be .hash files, but are not - most
	likely corrupted) will now be logged as well as reported. BAD files can
	be sign of disk corruption.

~   Even faster startup!

~   The final total number of files processed is now also shown in the final
	dialog during verify operations as well as creation tasks.

~   During search+verify operations, if checksum discovers a changed file,
	it will now update the hash (if you have this behaviour enabled - by
	using the "w" switch). Previously the "w" switch had no effect in this
	scenario.

+   I have added an option for search+verify to the one-shot verify options.
	It's kinda thrown in for now, until I can get around to re-organising
	that window. But it works!

~   If you have open_log_folder ("g" switch) set during verification and
	there are hash failures and the log folder is /already/ open on your
	desktop /somewhere/, checksum will bring it to the front.

*   Fixed a bug where a couple of the verify switches were not translating
	into the checked items in the one-shot verify options.

£*  Fixed the bug in the disable edit ini and custom preamble not being
	available to registered users.

*   Fixed a bug in the relative and fall-back logging locations. If a blank
	log location is entered, the log will now appear in the top folder
	checked, as expected. And if that is not possible, it will fall-back to
	your desktop (and now with a file extension, as expected!). No one uses
	this (because the checksum dedicated log folder is such a good idea!),
	which is how it escaped my attention so long.


Full details in the itstory.

You can grab this latest checksum (and simple checksum) beta from the usual place.

for now..

;o)

checksum 1.5.8.4

Another Beta release of checksum is available.

NOTE: to get version update notifications for beta releases, enable the beta_channel preference.

Changes..

~   Faster string search routines (now almost twice as fast). This impacts
	hash synchronization, checking files from the list of existing hashes. I
	have tested the new routines against a range of strange foreign
	languages and Unicode characters with 100% success.

*   Fixed sync issue when using absolute paths inside root hashes. This was
	leading to duplicate hash entries.

*   Fixed issue with hash comments not respecting the always_store_unc pref
	(they were using UNC-style paths even when this was disabled - it caused
	no issue, but looked incongruous).

*   Fixed a bug in applying unified extension to multiple legacy hash files.
	This almost never happens, but if you happen to have .md5/.sha1/.blake2
	hash files for a file and applied a unified extension, hashes for second
	and subsequent algorithms were being re-calculated.


Full details in the itstory.

You can grab this latest checksum (and simple checksum) beta from the usual place.

for now.

;o)

checksum 1.5.7.0

Another Beta release of checksum is available.

NOTE: to get version update notifications for beta releases, enable the beta_channel preference.

Changes..

+   Added search + verify command to checksum's default installed Explorer
	context commands. It's that handy! (see 1.5.6.3 changes)

	If you want this NOW, either uninstall+reinstall checksum (all your
	settings will remain intact) or else merge the sample registry file
	found here: https://corz.org/windows/software/checksum/files/

++  Directory Exclude Masks. You can now specify one or more directories
	which you would like to exclude from the hash creation process, using
	standard file masks (?,*). The "x" switch, followed by a set of exclude
	masks in braces, enables this functionality. Separate individual masks
    with a comma.

	For example, you want to create a root hash, but not hash any
	directories who's names begin with "Foo", or end with "Bar", or starts
	with "baz" AND ends "qux", do..

		checksum.exe cr1x(foo*,*bar,baz*qux) "D:\MyDir"

*   Fixed long path handling in search+verify function - Of course Explorer
	is sending short paths. Doh!


Full details in the itstory.

You can grab this latest checksum (and simple checksum) beta from the usual place.

for now..

;o)

checksum 1.5.6.3

Another Beta release of checksum is available.

NOTE: to get version update notifications for beta releases, enable the beta_channel preference.

New features..

++  checksum will now post the path that was hashed/verified in the final
    tooltip, in case you forgot what it was you were hashing, e.g..

    checksum completed verifying: e:\music\jazz\ in 3.55 seconds.. [100% OK]


++  Added new method (actually, the original method!) for testing
    writeability of directories. Normally we use the most accurate method,
    which is to write an actual test file to the directory. However, this
    will also change the "last modified" timestamp on that directory.

    If you would prefer this to /not/ happen, you can do (in checksum.ini)..

        relaxed_write_test=true

    which will instead rely on the system's "read-only" flag for the
    directory. This works in most ordinary scenarios.


++  Added Individual file verification search feature. This enables you to
    verify a single file, anywhere in your system, /from/ anywhere in your
    system, regardless of where its associated .hash file is in the file
    tree.

    This is extremely useful when you want to verify a single file but don't
    have an individual .hash for it, especially when the entry is inside a
    .hash file with thousands or millions of other entries, or you aren't
    sure exactly which .hash file contains the entry.

    Normally, for verification you feed checksum .hash (or .md5, whatever)
    files and it scans them looking for matching files to hash. Using /this/
    method, you feed checksum a regular file path and it scans your .hash
    files looking for a matching hash entry!

    checksum will search up the tree, first looking for matching individual
    .hash files, and then folder hashes, all the way up to the root of the
    volume until it finds one containing a hash for your file, at which
    point it will verify that one hash and return the result.

    The final dialog will also tell you *which* .hash file contained the
    entry for your chosen file.

    Thanks to Brett Lang for the original idea, which he presented to me as
    a DOS batch script doing a similar thing. I have to admit, it took me a
    while to get my head around the idea (it's just so back-to-front!), but
    once I did, I immediately saw how useful such a feature might be.

    You can enable this operation by using an "i" on the command-line, think
    "individual" file verification, or perhaps "Inverted operation"! e.g..

        checksum.exe vi "C:\some\path\to\file.ext"

    This works best as an Explorer context command. Future versions may have
    this built-in to the installer setup. For now, an example .reg file is
    at https://corz.org/windows/software/checksum/files/


Full details in the itstory.

You can grab this latest checksum (and simple checksum) beta from the usual place.

for now..

;o)

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