[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> It seems to me that the worst that could happen is that the software
> wouldn't work.

Installation of authenticated binaries is a good idea. Its a
way of ensuring that you are installing the binary that your
distribution intended you to install. It reduces the likelihood
of you and others installing compromised software.

Yes, I know malware on Linux is rare, but when Linux does get a
decent market share it will become a target of the people who
are currently using compromised windows machines to send all
that spam and do all those DDOS attacks.

It should also be noted that the first time Linux suffers a
widespread infection of malware will be the most damaging
in terms of the reputation of Linux. That will be the time
that the microsofties will be able to say "look, Linux is
just as bad".

> Also,does unauthenticated software ever get authenticated?

This is usually solved by running "apt-get update" or as Sonia
suggested

   LANG=
   sudo apt-get update

Its worth doing this the right way and making sure that all the
packages you install are authenticated. Feel free to ask more
questions on this list to get this working correctly.

Cheers,
Erik
-- 
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Erik de Castro Lopo
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"C++ is a language strongly optimized for liars and people who
go by guesswork and ignorance." -- Erik Naggum
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