@rbcollins, I don't think providing a hashlib.fips module without md5() solves the problem. The idea is to have a way to call md5() in non-secure situations, and to signal to the FIPS system that the call is OK. A separate module would work if it included an md5() function that always did that signaling. But creating a separate module just to wrap one function like that seems like overkill, doesn't it?