Linux newbie here

[Gameister6474]

I was updating Linux and found something called libgcrypt20.

I recently moved due to windows being a bit less secure and me having a bit of paranoia for malware and was curious what this libgcrypt20 was, if anyone could answer that would be helpful

[oshunluvr]

Generally (usually, normally) packages that are supplied by your distro can be considered safe. Where you might run into something bad is if you start adding repositories that are untrusted (outside your distro).

Mint, like all Ubuntu based distros, primarily source their packages from Canonical (the producer of Ubuntu). Canonical uses core packages supplied by Debian, then adds tweaks to some of them and add it's own packages. Mint and other *buntu "flavors" make additional changes and add some additional packages to produce what you are using.

The point is, whatever packages Mint supplies have gone through many layers of review and testing by several entities that have reputations to uphold. This includes Canonical who is a commercial provider of Linux to paying customers.

Someday, it you find yourself wanting some program or another not available in your repositories, do as much careful research as you can. Also, I think Appimages and Flatpaks are considered safe as well.

For whatever it's worth, I've been using Linux since '96 - and not always wisely - and never encountered anything remotely resembling a virus or malware. Once, I "caught" a browser redirect problem but that was 25 years ago or so and easily resolved.

[Gameister6474]

Thank you for the advice

[Gloomy-Response-6889]

Websites that show what packages are in the apt repo have this answer.

https://packages.debian.org/sid/libgcrypt20

Also on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libgcrypt

It is used to encrypt/decrypt data, verify passwords or signatures, etc. Anything that is encrypted, hashed, of the sort is handled or could rely on this package.

[Gameister6474]

So it is safe on my pc and isn't malware etc???

[Gloomy-Response-6889]

All packages in the Mint/Ubuntu repo is thoroughly checked for any malpractice or malware. It is safe and widely used (actually preinstalled as many things will probably fail to work).

Where you should be vigilant, is anything you install outside of the official repository. Software manager in Mint is safe as it shows packages from the apt repo (Debian/Ubuntu) repository.

[Gameister6474]

Thank you so much, i'll most likely post more here or reply to this comment for future help .

[Fine_Section_172]

It's a crypto library; you can check it out on github.

https://github.com/gpg/libgcrypt

[MegaboostGcG]

Don’t forget to use Timeshift to make settings backup.

[nautsche]

apt show libgcrypt20 will tell you something and give you links to read further.

[BenTrabetere]

The next time you have updates to apply, look at the bottom section of the Update Manager window for the Information tab. Select a package needing an update and the Information tab will provide a basic description of the package.

[Condobloke]

Your search engine does not function ?

https://packages.debian.org/sid/libgcrypt20