From: Jerome Baum <jerome@jeromebaum.com>
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:17:01 GMT
Subject: Hash algorithm choice
Message-ID: <f448a46a0908090917s102b4c83pbad6f298a8e127cc@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <f448a46a0908090907v68542e4dw1f1c4f610cb46ca2@mail.gmail.com>

Hi all,


I just had an idea regarding git and hashing. Couldn't find any
previous discussion on the subject so here's what I'm thinking of:

How difficult would it be to allow users to choose a hash function
during git-init which is then globally used in the repo? Are there
many changes needed or are changes in git-hash-object and git-init
sufficient?

I'm not trying to undermine the decision to use SHA-1 or anything, but
I would guess it builds for the future and adds flexibility to the
system. So when SHA-1 is no longer sufficient, it would be easy to
switch to RIPEMD-160 with a simple "git-init --hash=ripemd160"

Would be happy for any comments on this.


Regards,


Jerome Baum
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 2
D-37083 Göttingen
Germany
Tel.: +49 551 2008782
Web: www.JeromeBaum.com