md5sum results with V5.2.1 and V5.97 differ

[Aparna Rallabandi]

Hi,

I have a dev box where there is version 5.2.1 of md5sum. The result of md5sum 
--string on a string say "654321" is different from that of "echo \"654321\" | 
md5sum --text".

My test box has md5sum version 5.97 where --string option is not supported. So 
i use the "echo \"654321\" | md5sum --text". 

Is there any way i can get the results of "md5sum --string \"654321\"" with the 
version 5.97 of md5sum (or) is this a bug? 

My application needs the result of "md5sum --string \"654321\"" because this is 
what is stored in my DB at another place. The results are stored in the DB 
using md5 library from .NET.

For clarity i have put the results below.

Thanks and Rgds,
Aparna


$ md5sum --version
md5sum (coreutils) 5.2.1
Written by Ulrich Drepper and Scott Miller.

Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
$ md5sum --string "654321"
c33367701511b4f6020ec61ded352059  "654321"
$ echo "654321" |md5sum --text
4a62cf6ee3f8d889e65af1cc271f20fa  -
$  

# md5sum --ver
md5sum (GNU coreutils) 5.97
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software.  You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of
the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Ulrich Drepper, Scott Miller, and David Madore.
# md5sum --string "654321"
md5sum: unrecognized option `--string'
Try `md5sum --help' for more information.
# echo "654321" |md5sum --text
4a62cf6ee3f8d889e65af1cc271f20fa  -