-={ Saturday, 01 October 2016, 22:35:41.668745876 +1000 }=-

Hey Tony!

 TL> Well, having the CRC32 implemented would make my script more
 TL> universal.

From what I've read thus far I seriously doubt there is such a thing as
'universal' when it comes to crc32.  However I did find at least one workable
solution (c source) that I slightly modified so that the internal printf only
outputs the crc32 8 character hex (0-9,A-F) checksum.  At the moment it is only
 used by my fidonet account as I am sure that is the only place it might ever
get used and that is debatable.  However not having a common file(s) we can
test this idea with is the current holdup.  Anyhow it is around 5 milliseconds
faster then the bash printf of cksum and the output is 32 bit hex.  Your milage
 will vary.

 TL> I'd br hsppy to use the Perl option, if I could find it for
 TL> Raspian.

Do you currently use Raspian for fidonet?  The c source, if it turns out to be
compatible with the accepted method, would probably be a better option.

 TL> we have to work with the TIC specs here.

Says who?  ;-)

Life is good,
Maurice

... Gewurdene wyrda, ðæt beoð ða feowere fæges rapas.
    Things which have happened: those are the four ropes of the doomed.
--- GNU bash, version 4.4.0(1)-release (x86_64-atom-linux-gnu)