From: "Theo de Raadt" <deraadt@openbsd.org>
Subject: Re: Add SHA-512 support to mtree
To: kaizen <aiden@kaizenos.com>
Cc: Damien Miller <djm@mindrot.org>, tech@openbsd.org
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2025 06:41:11 -0600

> Mainly to provide consistency with other tools that test file integrity 
> such as cksum(1). (Typically, when sha256 is available, sha512 also is)

Are you saying we'll increase the diversity of checks all over the place,
increasing confusion, increasing requirements?
 
> SHA-512 performs significantly faster (on 64 bit machines) when I use 
> mtree with my diff on thousands of files.

Are you saying it performs significantly poorer on other machines?

> Whilst it's not a need, it's nice to have the option.

I think nothing needs it.  I'm personally waiting for SHA1024 because it
is twice as good as SHA512.