Coming from the Windows world, where I’m in the habit of putting every new EXE or Installation file through something like Virustotal, or searching Stack Exchange/Reddit for reviews on the safety (no malware, no spyware, etc) of a particular piece of software before installing it.
With Linux, is it mostly completely safe to install any utility or software so long as I’m using the default repositories that come with new installs of the OS from vendor images?
If not, what is a general process for validating the safety of a particular Linux utility/program/application?