Ways to verify tools/applications? Fire support for new users

[deb <deb@rangingthoughts.org>]

Hello folks:


Again, for someone trying to pull Windows (and Mac) users into Linux ...

Are there list-suggested ways to help verify non-free / 
out-of-stable-distro or even seldomly updated in-distro tools, PRE-INSTALL?


A portion of the users are going to have the ability to sudo apt-get 
install ....

No way around that.

I have them (at least) do this first:


 * $ apt-cache search the-thing  # shows variants

 * $ apt-cache show the-thing     # Let's them see more, pre-install

 * https://startpage.com the-thing

 * talk to me.                                # gives me a chance to 
brace myself.



Are there suggested sites to look up Linux tools to verify them a bit; 
rather than just one-off searches?

Are there suggested sites where KNOWN BAD tools are listed?


Thanks again