For me, it’s not enough to verify the integrity of an ISO – I also have to verify its authenticity (or at least verify the checksum file) with GPG. I don’t know why, but just need to see that “Good signature” message before I feel safe installing Linux.
I notice, though, that the download pages of some prominent distros (Pop_OS!, openSUSE, etc) just give you a checksum, probably because they feel that anything else is unnecessary. This makes me shy away from installing them, which is a shame because I’d like to give some of those distros a try on bare metal.
Am I being paranoid when it comes to installing Linux?
This point just compile from source
Somebody could’ve pushed malware in the code, write all software yourself.
Someone could’ve pushed a malicious compiler. Better write all the bits by hand.
Someone could have compromised the CPU interface, better build one from scratch.
Someone could’ve compromised the materials used to build the CPU, better assemble the atoms together one by one.
Removed by mod