Package: dpkg Version: 1.4.0.34 Severity: Important (Important as it is a security issue that has been brought up recently in several contexts, and we know that mirrors can be compromised.)
.debs should have an extra component in the ar archive which are PGP-signed MD5 sums (or equivalent) of the other two sections of the .deb archive (control and data). Dpkg (or dpkg-deb?) should create this part when asked to, in a way to be decided, and should be able to check it if asked to. Less urgent is a way of enabling users to confirm these PGP signatures before installing the packages. There is the obvious DFSG problem of making dpkg depend on PGP -- this may actually be a very good opportunity to begin working towards GnuPG by having the signatures be GnuPG ones. Julian =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, QMW, Univ. of London. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Debian GNU/Linux Developer. [EMAIL PROTECTED] -*- Finger [EMAIL PROTECTED] for my PGP public key. -*-