def sha512_generic_passwd(password, uppercase=False):
    """
    >>> sha512_generic_passwd(password='testpass', uppercase=False)
    '78ddc8555bb1677ff5af75ba5fc02cb30bb592b0610277ae15055e189b77fe3fda496e5027a3d99ec85d54941adee1cc174b50438fdc21d82d0a79f85b58cf44'
    """

    retVal = sha512(password).hexdigest()

    return retVal.upper() if uppercase else retVal.lower()