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
You know which site you’re getting it from…check the SSL certificate and that’s enough. If an official site got breached it’d be found out pretty quickly.
What is the benefit of a gpg signature over a checksum? In either case you have to trust someone.
(My opinion) No, you aren’t paranoid. I’m thinking a bit like you, but I also consider probabilities. You need to download the checksums from the official website and the ISO from mirrors. Two different sources would need to be hacked. This is where I say, it’s hard and secondly someone would notice that hack very quickly.
Signing the ISO or the checksums with a well-known signature is still important. I verify it, if a signature available. It’s just a couple of seconds and doesn’t cost anything.
Going a little overboard there in my opinion. If one of the major distributions would catch something sketchy, a whole bunch of tech savy would be all over it in no time.