diff --git a/tools/gst-md5sum.1 b/tools/gst-md5sum.1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9bd71cbc45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/gst-md5sum.1
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+.TH "GStreamer" "1" "September 2002"
+.SH "NAME"
+gst\-md5sum \- get an md5sum of a GStreamer pipeline through md5sink
+.SH "SYNOPSIS"
+\fBgst\-md5sum\fR \fI[OPTION...]\fR PARTIAL\-PIPELINE\-DESCRIPTION
+.SH "DESCRIPTION"
+.LP 
+\fIgst\-md5sum\fP is a tool that is used to get an md5 sum of 
+a basic \fIGStreamer\fP pipeline.
+
+In theory, running
+
+ gst-md5sum filesrc location=music.mp3
+
+should print out the same md5sum as
+
+  md5sum music.mp3
+
+Make sure the pipeline given is a partial one, to which a sink still
+needs to be connected.
+
+See other docs, examples, and the source for description on how to
+create a PARTIAL\-PIPELINE\-DESCRIPTION.
+.
+.SH "OPTIONS"
+.l
+\fIgst\-md5sum\fP accepts the following options:
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-help
+Print help synopsis and available FLAGS
+.TP 8
+.B  \-v
+Output verbose information
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-gst\-info\-mask=FLAGS
+\fIGStreamer\fP info flags to set (list with \-\-help)
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-gst\-debug\-mask=FLAGS
+\fIGStreamer\fP debugging flags to set (list with \-\-help)
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-gst\-mask=FLAGS
+\fIGStreamer\fP info and debugging flags to set (list with \-\-help)
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-gst\-plugin\-spew
+\fIGStreamer\fP info flags to set
+Enable printout of errors while loading \fIGStreamer\fP plugins
+.TP 8
+.B  \-\-gst\-plugin\-path=PATH
+Add directories separated with ':' to the plugin search path
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.BR gst\-launch (1)
+.SH "AUTHOR"
+The GStreamer team at http://gstreamer.net/
diff --git a/tools/gst-md5sum.c b/tools/gst-md5sum.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c916873f13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/gst-md5sum.c
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <gst/gst.h>
+
+static guint64 iterations = 0;
+static guint64 sum = 0;
+static guint64 min = G_MAXINT64;
+static guint64 max = 0;
+static GstClock *s_clock;
+
+gboolean
+idle_func (gpointer data)
+{
+  gboolean busy;
+  GTimeVal tfthen, tfnow;
+  GstClockTimeDiff diff;
+
+  if (s_clock) {
+    //g_print ("%lld\n", gst_clock_get_time (s_clock));
+  }
+
+  g_get_current_time (&tfthen);
+  busy = gst_bin_iterate (GST_BIN (data));
+  iterations++;
+  g_get_current_time (&tfnow);
+
+  diff = GST_TIMEVAL_TO_TIME (tfnow) -
+         GST_TIMEVAL_TO_TIME (tfthen);
+
+  sum += diff; 
+  min = MIN (min, diff);
+  max = MAX (max, diff);
+
+  if (!busy) {
+    gst_main_quit ();
+    /*
+    g_print ("execution ended after %llu iterations (sum %llu ns, average %llu ns, min %llu ns, max %llu ns)\n", 
+		    iterations, sum, sum/iterations, min, max);
+		    */
+  }
+
+  return busy;
+}
+
+int
+main (int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+  /* options */
+  gboolean verbose = FALSE;
+  gchar *exclude_args = NULL;
+  struct poptOption options[] = {
+    {"verbose",	'v',  POPT_ARG_NONE|POPT_ARGFLAG_STRIP,   &verbose,   0,
+     "do not output status information", NULL},
+    POPT_TABLEEND
+  };
+
+  GstElement *pipeline;
+  gchar **argvn;
+  GError *error = NULL;
+  GstElement *md5sink;
+  gchar *md5string = g_malloc0 (33);
+
+  free (malloc (8)); /* -lefence */
+
+  gst_init_with_popt_table (&argc, &argv, options);
+  
+  /* make a null-terminated version of argv with ! md5sink appended 
+   * ! is stored in argvn[argc - 1], md5sink in argvn[argc],
+   * NULL pointer in argvn[argc + 1] */
+  argvn = g_new0 (char *, argc + 2);
+  memcpy (argvn, argv + 1, sizeof (char *) * (argc - 1));
+  argvn[argc - 1] = g_strdup_printf ("!");
+  argvn[argc] = g_strdup_printf ("md5sink");
+
+  pipeline = (GstElement*) gst_parse_launchv ((const gchar**) argvn, &error);
+
+  if (!pipeline) {
+    if (error)
+    {
+      g_warning ("pipeline could not be constructed: %s\n", error->message);
+      g_error_free (error);
+    }
+    else
+      g_warning ("pipeline could not be constructed\n");
+    return 1;
+  }
+  
+  if (verbose)
+  {
+    gchar **exclude_list = exclude_args ? g_strsplit (exclude_args, ",", 0) 
+                                        : NULL;
+    g_signal_connect (pipeline, "deep_notify", 
+	              G_CALLBACK (gst_element_default_deep_notify), 
+		      exclude_list);
+  }
+  g_signal_connect (pipeline, "error", 
+                    G_CALLBACK (gst_element_default_error), NULL);
+
+  if (gst_element_set_state (pipeline, GST_STATE_PLAYING) != GST_STATE_SUCCESS)
+  {
+    g_warning ("pipeline doesn't want to play\n");
+    return 0;
+  }
+  
+  if (!GST_FLAG_IS_SET (GST_OBJECT (pipeline), GST_BIN_SELF_SCHEDULABLE)) {
+    g_idle_add (idle_func, pipeline);
+    gst_main ();
+  } else { 
+    gst_element_wait_state_change (pipeline);
+  }
+
+  gst_element_set_state (pipeline, GST_STATE_NULL);
+
+  /* print out md5sink here */
+  md5sink = gst_bin_get_by_name (GST_BIN (pipeline), "md5sink0");
+  g_assert (md5sink);
+  g_object_get (G_OBJECT (md5sink), "md5", &md5string, NULL);
+  printf ("%s\n", md5string);
+
+  gst_object_unref (GST_OBJECT (pipeline));
+
+  return 0;
+}