Google Code-in

The Fedora installation media is distributed as a CD/DVD image (a ISO file). It is of several gigabytes of size and has a possibility of being corrupted while being downloaded. A corrupted ISO file causes problems while installation, so it is recommended to verify the image while downloading. A checksum is like a signature of a file (or any other binary data) using one of many available cryptographic hash functions. It has a property of altering drastically even when a single byte of data changes. Thus, it makes a very reliable means of checking for data integrity. However, not many people using Linux are aware of checksum verification.

Goal

To create a shell script snippet for downloading Fedora ISO and verifying against checksum. This snippet could be added to the installation instructions at getfedora.org A complete list of Fedora ISOs is available here.

Suggested approach

Write a script that uses wget or cURL to download the Fedora ISO and then uses sha256sum to check the file. Conventionally, the checksum for the file Fedora-XXX.iso is called Fedora-XXX-CHECKSUM, available under the same path.

Deliverables

• Shell script snippets.
• Make different shell scripts for different Fedora spins.
• Submit the scripts