security of the universe repository

[Amichai Rotman]

I think the OP is referring to the fact the Universe / Multiverse
repositories are not supported directly by Canonical, but by the community.
So the OP, being a long time Windows user, I guess, assumes it is
potentially open to malicious code...

Chandra: No need to worry!

Although Linux viruses exist, they pose very little threat to your Ubuntu.
On the other hand, if you use the same computer with Windows, and download
files from the Internet, make sure to scan them regularly with an updated
Anti Virus. You can safely install ClamAV + ClamTk (it's graphical
front-end) and use it to scan your Windows partition from within Ubuntu.

The fact that the  Universe / Multiverse repositories are not supported by
Canonical just means you have to seek the community's help and support for
the applications you installed from them, and not contact Canonical.

I hope I was helpful and didn't confused you even further ;-)


  Amichai Rotman
 Penguin - FLOSS Computer Service and Technical Consulting
 +972-73-7962360 ||  +972-54-4605787


On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Tom H <tomh0665 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:57 AM, Chandra Amarasingham
> <camarasingham at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > I am wondering if there is an "official" word on the security of the
> > universe repository compared to the Main repository. By security I mean
> free
> > from malicious code.
> >
> > I don't think there are anti-virus programs in the Main repository, but I
> > think clam anti-virus is in the universe repository.....but that means I
> am
> > not able to be confident that the clam anti-virus itself does have
> malicious
> > aspects (eg. from other sources...).
> >
> > I thought it would be nice to have some scanning software in the main
> > repository which can be used to scan software from other repositories
> which
> > don't enjoy the same level of confidence.
>
> Why would the universe/multiverse repositories be insecure? They're
> packages rebuilt from Debian just like those in main/restricted.
>
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