security of the universe repository

[Avi Greenbury]

Chandra Amarasingham wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I am new to this list.
> 
> 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.

The only difference should be the freedom of the software - I can't
see why Universe would be less secure in that regard. Perhaps this is
a question best directed at Canonical?

> 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.

This simply requires that some such scanning software be free enough
to find itself in main. Does Clam purport to be able to check that
sort of thing, though? I thought it was mainly aimed at Windows
malware.

-- 
Avi