Hi, The Packages file for the corresponding section hold the MD5sum of the .deb files. For example, look at: (http://ftp1.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/binary-i386/Packages.gz)
Now, how do you know that the Packages file was not tampered with? The top level Release file has MD5Sums of the Packages files (http://ftp1.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/Release). Now, how do you know that the Release file has not been tampered with? Well, there is a detached signature of that file (http://ftp1.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/Release.gpg) signed by ziyi, who is an automated script that creates Release files on the master archive. How do you know that the signature is valid -- Hmm, pretty soon you shall be able to get the key from keyring.debian.org; but right now you need to know James Troup, and have access to master.debian.org (sorry). manoj -- A bunch of Polish scientists decided to flee their repressive government by hijacking an airliner and forcing the pilot to fly them to the West. They drove to the airport, forced their way on board a large passenger jet, and found there was no pilot on board. Terrified, they listened as the sirens got louder. Finally, one of the scientists suggested that since he was an experimentalist, he would try to fly the aircraft. He sat down at the controls and tried to figure them out. The sirens got louder and louder. Armed men surrounded the jet. The would be pilot's friends cried out, "Please, please take off now!!! Hurry!!!" The experimentalist calmly replied, "Have patience. I'm just a simple pole in a complex plane." Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/> 1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E 1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C