diff --git a/MOcov/mocov_find_files.m b/MOcov/mocov_find_files.m
index ffb8850..ee5f8ba 100644
--- a/MOcov/mocov_find_files.m
+++ b/MOcov/mocov_find_files.m
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@
     end
 
     res=find_files_recursively(root_dir,file_re,monitor,exclude_re);
-    
-    
+
+
 function re=pattern2re(pat)
     re=['^' ... % start of the string
         regexptranslate('wildcard',pat) ...
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
 
     excl_re_cell=cellfun(@pattern2re,exclude_pat,...
                         'UniformOutput',false);
-    
+
     joined=sprintf('|%s',excl_re_cell{:});
     re=joined(2:end);
 
diff --git a/MOcov/mocov_util_md5.m b/MOcov/mocov_util_md5.m
index a563ac8..bb96d93 100644
--- a/MOcov/mocov_util_md5.m
+++ b/MOcov/mocov_util_md5.m
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
 
 
 function md5=md5_from_file(fn)
-    md5_processors={@md5_builtin,@md5_shell};
+    md5_processors={@md5_builtin,...
+                    @hash_builtin,...
+                    @md5_shell};
 
     n=numel(md5_processors);
     for k=1:n
@@ -34,14 +36,29 @@
     error('Unable to compute md5 - no method available');
 
 function [is_ok,md5]=md5_builtin(fn)
-% supported in GNU Octave
-    is_ok=~isempty(which('md5sum'));
+% supported in GNU Octave <= 4.6
+    is_ok=has_builtin_function('md5sum');
     if is_ok
         md5=md5sum(fn);
     else
         md5=[];
     end
 
+
+function [is_ok,md5]=hash_builtin(fn)
+% supported in GNU Octave >= 4.4
+
+    is_ok=has_builtin_function('hash') && has_builtin_function('fileread');
+    if is_ok
+        md5=hash('md5',fileread(fn));
+    else
+        md5=[];
+    end
+
+function tf=has_builtin_function(name)
+    tf=exist(name,'builtin');
+
+
 function [is_ok,md5]=md5_shell(fn)
 % supported on Unix platform
     is_ok=false;
@@ -55,11 +72,3 @@
     [status,md5]=unix(cmd);
     is_ok=status==0;
 
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 24fabba..1cc14b8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Nikolaas N. Oosterhof, nikolaas dot oosterhof at unitn dot it
 
 (The MIT License)
 
-Copyright (c) 2015 Nikolaas N. Oosterhof
+Copyright (c) 2015-2017 Nikolaas N. Oosterhof
 
 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
 a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the