Dear All,

Can anybody throw some light on the following things?

I would like to know if provisions for cryptographic algorithms, especially things like digital signature of packages/applications etc are a native feature of any linux package installer/package manager.

Another question is:

Do all linux based systems natively support cryptography? if yes, what engines do they use? Do they all use openssl or do they use high level java based engines like Harmony(Apache) or Bouncy castle?

Can someone clarify?

I have an ubuntu 10.10 and I know openssl support is already provided. However I want to know if any system level program actually uses it or not

Thanks in advance

Here is a link to a Debian wiki article on secure apt. Debian and Ubuntu use GPG signatures to verify packages.

No. You can build a Linux system that does not support cryptography. There are situations where you might build a simple embedded Linux system that would not need to use cryptography.

Thanks a lot. That was indeed a very good read.