paq

Hash file or directory recursively.

Powered by blake3 cryptographic hashing algorithm.

Performance

The Go programming language repository was used as a test data source (157 MB / 14,490 files).

See benchmarks documentation for more details.

Installation

Pre-Built Binary

Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu are supported.

1. Download: Go to the Latest Release page and download the .zip archive matching your OS and Architecture.
2. Extract: Unzip the .zip archive to retrieve the paq binary.
3. Install: Make the paq binary executable (e.g., chmod +x) and move it to a directory in your system PATH.
4. Verify: Confirm installation by running paq --version from the Command Line Interface.

Cargo Install

Requires the cargo package manager.

Install From Crates.io

cargo install paq

Install From Repository Clone (Unstable)

Not recommended due to instability of main branch in-between tagged releases.

1. Clone this repository.
2. Run cargo install --path . from repository root.

Nix Flakes

Requires nix and the nix-command experimental feature to be enabled.

nix profile add github:gregl83/paq

Python Package

Support for Python is available in the paqpy package.

Usage

Command Line Interface executable or Crate library.

Included in this repository is an example directory containing some sample files, a subdirectory and a symlink to test paq functionality.

Executable

Run paq [src] to hash source file or directory.

Output hash to .paq file as valid JSON.

For help, run paq --help.

Hash Example Directory

paq ./example

Path to example directory can be relative or absolute.

Expect different results if -i or --ignore-hidden flag argument is used.

Crate Library

Add paq to project dependencies in Cargo.toml.

Use Library

use paq;

let source = std::path::PathBuf::from("/path/to/source");
let ignore_hidden = true; // .dir or .file
let source_hash: paq::ArrayString<64> = paq::hash_source(&source, ignore_hidden);

println!("{}", source_hash);

Hash Example Directory

use paq;

let source = std::path::PathBuf::from("example");
let ignore_hidden = true;
let source_hash: paq::ArrayString<64> = paq::hash_source(&source, ignore_hidden);

assert_eq!(&source_hash[..], "d7d25c9b2fdb7391e650085a985ad0d892c7f0dd5edd32c7ccdb4b0d1c34c430");

Expect different results if ignore_hidden is set to false.

Content Limitations

Hashes are generated using file system content as input data to the blake3 hashing algorithm.

By design, paq does NOT include file system metadata in hash input such as:

• File modes
• File ownership
• File modification and access times
• File ACLs and extended attributes
• Hard links
• Symlink target contents (target path is hashed)

Additionally, files or directory contents starting with dot or full stop can optionally be ignored.

How it Works

1. Stream & Hash: Recursively discovers source system path(s) and hashes them in a parallel pipeline.
2. Sort: Orders the hashes to ensure a deterministic output.
3. Finalize: Computes the final hash by hashing the list of hashes.

License

MIT