There are a wide range of use cases where MHL can make a real difference to your workflow. In the following we introduce the MHL commands and explain how to use them.
Standard cases
Sealing
Most commonly, you want to seal a folder (blue box) of files (marked A through C) so any change to them in the future can be detected.
By executing ‘mhl seal’ on the folder, a new MHL file (marked M) is created referencing the sealed files.
Error cases
File deleted or file altered
One goal of sealing is to detect the deletion or changes of files.
By executing the ‘mhl verify’ command on the folder both the existence and the contents of the sealed files are verified. Pass the ‘-e’ option if you only want to check the existence of files, not their contents.
MHL file deleted
Because MHL files are files like any other, it can also be deleted.
By executing the ‘mhl verify’ command on the folder missing MHL files are reported.
Signing
Note: The signing feature is currently not part of the MHL tool and is planned for a future update.
MHL files can be signed with a personal certificate to prevent their alteration.
By executing the ‘mhl sign’ command on a MHL file, the contents of the MHL file are parsed, a corresponding hash is generated and encrypted with the personal certificate. The encrypted hash is then written back to the MHL file itself and is thereafter verified every time executing ‘mhl verify’.
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