diff --git a/Common/SourceLocation.cs b/Common/SourceLocation.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31fafd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Common/SourceLocation.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace XNeedle
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Carries the origin information for a loaded XML document:
+    /// the file path, the detected encoding, and the line number of the
+    /// associated node (-1 when line information is unavailable).
+    /// </summary>
+    public struct SourceLocation
+    {
+        public string FilePath { get; set; }
+        public Encoding Encoding { get; set; }
+        /// <summary>
+        /// 1-based line number of the associated node, or -1 if unknown.
+        /// </summary>
+        public int LineNumber { get; set; }
+
+        public SourceLocation(string filePath, Encoding encoding, int lineNumber = -1)
+        {
+            FilePath = filePath;
+            Encoding = encoding;
+            LineNumber = lineNumber;
+        }
+
+        public SourceLocation WithLineNumber(int lineNumber) =>
+            new SourceLocation(FilePath, Encoding, lineNumber);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/Formats/XmlRoundtripWriter.cs b/Formats/XmlRoundtripWriter.cs
index 6dcec1f..cf5918b 100644
--- a/Formats/XmlRoundtripWriter.cs
+++ b/Formats/XmlRoundtripWriter.cs
@@ -57,10 +57,33 @@ namespace XNeedle.Formats
             return new XmlRoundtripWriter(xmlWriter);
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Creates an XmlRoundtripWriter that writes to a StringBuilder for in-memory rendering.
+        /// Style detection (compact self-closing tags, DOS line endings) is read from the source file.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static (XmlRoundtripWriter writer, StringBuilder buffer) CreateToString(string filePath, Encoding encoding)
+        {
+            var rawBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(filePath);
+            var rawText = encoding.GetString(rawBytes);
+
+            var compact = Regex.IsMatch(rawText, @"\S/>");
+            var dosLineEndings = rawText.Contains("\r\n");
+
+            var sb = new StringBuilder();
+            var stringWriter = new StringWriter(sb);
+            var filterWriter = new FilteringTextWriter(stringWriter, compact, dosLineEndings, verbatimEncodingName: null);
+            var xmlWriter = new XmlTextWriter(filterWriter)
+            {
+                Formatting = Formatting.None
+            };
+
+            return (new XmlRoundtripWriter(xmlWriter), sb);
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Detects encoding from BOM first, then the XML declaration, then defaults to UTF-8.
         /// </summary>
-        private static Encoding DetectEncoding(byte[] raw)
+        internal static Encoding DetectEncoding(byte[] raw)
         {
             if (raw.Length >= 3 && raw[0] == 0xEF && raw[1] == 0xBB && raw[2] == 0xBF)
                 return new UTF8Encoding(encoderShouldEmitUTF8Identifier: true);
diff --git a/Parser/Elements/Context.cs b/Parser/Elements/Context.cs
index 53d9057..9f15c50 100644
--- a/Parser/Elements/Context.cs
+++ b/Parser/Elements/Context.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ namespace XNeedle.Parser.Elements
     {
         public string? XPathSelector { get; set; }
         public XElement? Node { get; set; }
+        public SourceLocation SLoc { get; set; }
 
         public Context Clone()
         {
diff --git a/Parser/XmlFragParser.cs b/Parser/XmlFragParser.cs
index 88acf58..b41a716 100644
--- a/Parser/XmlFragParser.cs
+++ b/Parser/XmlFragParser.cs
@@ -13,15 +13,13 @@ namespace XNeedle.Parser
             from rbraket in Parse.Char('>')
             select new string([.. any]);
         }
-        public static Parser<string> ChecksumData(string opening, string closing)
+        public static Parser<string> ChecksumData(string tagName)
         {
+            var closing = "</" + tagName + ">";
             return 
-            from pregarbage in Parse.AnyChar.Many()
-            from preamble in Parse.String(opening).Token()
-            from content in Parse.AnyChar.Many()
-            from epilouge in Parse.String("</" + closing + ">")
-            from postgarbage in Parse.AnyChar.Many()
-            select new string([.. content]) + epilouge;
+            from preamble in OpeningTagAnchor(tagName)
+            from content in Parse.AnyChar.Until(Parse.String(closing))
+            select new string([.. content]) + closing;
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Program.cs b/Program.cs
index 6703d9f..0e37562 100644
--- a/Program.cs
+++ b/Program.cs
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ namespace XNeedle
         {
             var masterRule = (Rule)XnParser.RuleObject.Parse(File.ReadAllText(opts.XnDefinition));
             var doc = XDocument.Load(opts.Input, LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
-            masterRule.Transform(doc);
+            var encoding = XmlRoundtripWriter.DetectEncoding(File.ReadAllBytes(opts.Input));
+            var sloc = new SourceLocation(opts.Input, encoding);
+            masterRule.Transform(doc, sloc);
             using var writer = XmlRoundtripWriter.Create(opts.Input, opts.Output);
             doc.WriteTo(writer);
             Console.WriteLine($"Applied \"{opts.XnDefinition}\" to \"{opts.Input}\" and saved result to \"{opts.Output}\"");
diff --git a/Transformation/ContextFunctions.cs b/Transformation/ContextFunctions.cs
index b4ef284..ed29e44 100644
--- a/Transformation/ContextFunctions.cs
+++ b/Transformation/ContextFunctions.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 using System;
 using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
 using Sprache;
+using XNeedle.Formats;
 using XNeedle.Parser;
 using XNeedle.Parser.Elements;
 
@@ -25,12 +27,24 @@ namespace XNeedle.Transformation
         public static double crc(Context ctx)
         {
             if (ctx.Node is null)
-            {
                 return 0;
-            }
-            int crc = 0xAFFE;
 
-            return (double)crc;
+            // Step 1: Render the element to a string, preserving source style
+            var (writer, buffer) = XmlRoundtripWriter.CreateToString(ctx.SLoc.FilePath, ctx.SLoc.Encoding);
+            ctx.Node.WriteTo(writer);
+            writer.Flush();
+            string xml = buffer.ToString();
+
+            // Step 2: Extract all text after the opening tag through and including the closing tag
+            string tagName = ctx.Node.Name.LocalName;
+            string data = XmlFragParser.ChecksumData(tagName).Parse(xml);
+
+            // Step 3: Digest into CRC32 using the source encoding
+            var crc32 = new System.IO.Hashing.Crc32();
+            crc32.Append(ctx.SLoc.Encoding.GetBytes(data));
+            uint result = BitConverter.ToUInt32(crc32.GetCurrentHash());
+
+            return (double)result;
         }
 
         public static string text(Context ctx)
diff --git a/Transformation/Rule.cs b/Transformation/Rule.cs
index 961844c..a51e897 100644
--- a/Transformation/Rule.cs
+++ b/Transformation/Rule.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Xml;
 using System.Xml.Linq;
 using System.Xml.XPath;
+using XNeedle;
 using XNeedle.Parser.Elements;
 
 namespace XNeedle.Transformation
@@ -11,10 +12,11 @@ namespace XNeedle.Transformation
         public required string XPathSelector { get; set; }
         public required IEnumerable<Part> Body;
 
-        public void Transform(XDocument xml)
+        public void Transform(XDocument xml, SourceLocation sloc)
         {
             var context = new Context();
             context.Node = xml.Root;
+            context.SLoc = sloc;
             Operate(context);
         }
 
@@ -33,6 +35,8 @@ namespace XNeedle.Transformation
             {
                 var loopCtx = ctx.Clone();
                 loopCtx.Node = n;
+                var lineInfo = (IXmlLineInfo)n;
+                loopCtx.SLoc = ctx.SLoc.WithLineNumber(lineInfo.HasLineInfo() ? lineInfo.LineNumber : -1);
                 foreach (var b in Body)
                 {
                     b.Operate(loopCtx);