Generate hash of workbooks

[ianalexmac]

In order to ensure that the workbooks haven't changed, we would like to generate a hash of the workbooks directory.

We would like this hash to be:

• A single value
• Reproducible by anyone
• Straightforward to generate
• Not computationally heavy

[ianalexmac]

The short answer is to use the bash command sha256sum /path/to/file

However, the sha256sum command only works on singular files, not directories. To get around this, we will generate a single .tar file of the directory, then hash that file. The operation happens in two steps:

• First, we generate the tarball and save it someplace temporary, such as your downloads folder or desktop. The other filepath points towards the workbook directory.
  tar cf /path/to/tarball/output.tar /path/to/workbooks/directory

• Second, we run the SHA-256 checksum on the generated tarball
  sha256sum /path/to/tarball/output.tar

• Finally, we compare the generated hash to the documented hash. If different, start worrying. Otherwise, keep coding!

[ianalexmac]

When I follow the above steps, my machine generates the hash 754c947c84bedf1ef2426277d2c50dee7fb51a98a883da09bd6d87ef8840ac7f

@eldobbins or @jikaczmarski perhaps you could replicate my steps and ensure that we are on the right track? If so, we can make this the official V2.0.0 workbooks hash and stash it in the documentation.