Debian Dev PC Bootstrap Installation

This guide walks you through setting up a Debian-based personal PC with various system configurations and applications. It covers everything from configuring vi to enabling hibernate, setting DNS resolvers, preserving your Bash history, and installing useful applications.

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Table of Contents

1. Enable INSERT in vi
2. Configure Sudo Access
3. System Update
4. Disable IPv6
5. Setup SSH Keys
6. Enable Hibernate
7. Install Applications
   • Sublime Text
   • PHP
   • Heroku CLI
   • Additional Tools
   • Visual Studio Code
   • Other Applications
8. Additional Configuration
   • Set DNS
   • Preserve Bash History
9. Clean Up

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1. Enable INSERT in vi

To improve your vi experience, switch to the root user and install vim-gui-common which provides better support for input modes.

su
sudo apt-get install vim-gui-common -y

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2. Configure Sudo Access

Add your user to the sudoers file to allow administrative commands without switching users. Open /etc/sudoers with your favorite editor (using visudo is recommended) and add:

my_username ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

Note: Replace my_username with your actual username.

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3. System Update

Update the package lists and upgrade installed packages:

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

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4. Disable IPv6

Instructions for disabling IPv6 are not detailed here. Please consult your system documentation or online resources for the correct steps.

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5. Setup SSH Keys

If you need to manage SSH keys:

1. Edit or create your private key (if necessary):

   vi ~/.ssh/id_rsa

2. Set the correct permissions:

   chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa

3. Generate the public key from your private key:

   ssh-keygen -y -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa > ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

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6. Enable Hibernate

To enable hibernate functionality on your system, follow these steps:

6.1 Adjust Swappiness

Set the swappiness to a low value (1) to favor hibernation over swap usage:

sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=1

To make this change permanent, edit (or create) the local sysctl configuration file:

sudo vi /etc/sysctl.d/local.conf

Add the following line:

vm.swappiness=1

6.2 Create and Configure Swapfile

Create a 15G swapfile, set the appropriate permissions, and initialize it:

sudo fallocate -l 15G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

Make the swapfile persistent by adding it to /etc/fstab:

echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

6.3 Configure Hibernate Boot Parameters

You will need to determine your system’s root UUID and the swapfile offset:

• Find the UUID:

  findmnt / -o UUID -n

• Find the swapfile offset:

  sudo filefrag -v /swapfile | awk 'NR==4{gsub(/\./,""); print $4;}'

With your UUID and swapfile offset in hand, update the bootloader and initramfs configurations:

1. Update GRUB:

   Edit /etc/default/grub:

   sudo vi /etc/default/grub

   Append or modify the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line to include the resume parameters (replace the example UUID and offset with your actual values):

   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=UUID=178f7336-5875-40bc-be93-58dca79a49dc resume_offset=58673152"
   

2. Configure initramfs resume settings:

   Edit (or create) the resume configuration file:

   sudo vi /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume

   Add the following line (replace the example UUID with your actual UUID):

   RESUME=UUID=178f7336-5875-40bc-be93-58dca79a49dc
   

6.4 Update Bootloader and Initramfs

Apply the changes by updating GRUB and the initramfs:

sudo update-grub
sudo update-initramfs -k all -u

6.5 Test Hibernate

Test the hibernate function with:

systemctl hibernate

Note: Replace the example UUID (178f7336-5875-40bc-be93-58dca79a49dc) and offset (58673152) with the values obtained from your system.

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7. Install Applications

Sublime Text

Add the Sublime Text repository and install the editor:

wget -qO - https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/sublimehq-archive.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt install sublime-text -y

PHP

Install PHP without extra recommended packages:

sudo apt install php --no-install-recommends -y

Additional Tools

Install a collection of useful tools and applications:

sudo apt install curl vlc gimp ffmpeg nodejs npm apt-transport-https filezilla python3-pip python3-venv -y

Heroku CLI

Install the Heroku Command Line Interface:

curl https://cli-assets.heroku.com/install-ubuntu.sh | sh

Visual Studio Code

Follow these steps to install Visual Studio Code:

1. Install prerequisites:

   sudo apt-get install wget gpg -y

2. Add Microsoft's GPG key:

   wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > packages.microsoft.gpg
   sudo install -D -o root -g root -m 644 packages.microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg

3. Add the VSCode repository:

   echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list > /dev/null

4. Clean up the temporary key file:

   rm -f packages.microsoft.gpg

5. Update and install VSCode:

   sudo apt update -y && sudo apt install code -y

Other Applications

For additional software, refer to the following resources or their official installation guides:

• 1Password: Install 1Password for Linux
• Docker
• Studio 3T
• Android Studio

Note: Installation steps for Docker, Studio 3T, and Android Studio are not included here. Please consult their official documentation for setup instructions.

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8. Additional Configuration

This section covers extra configuration steps for setting DNS resolvers and preserving your Bash history.

8.1 Set DNS

Reset your DNS configuration and add preferred nameservers:

sed -i '/nameserver/d' /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 1.1.1.1" | sudo tee -a /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" | sudo tee -a /etc/resolv.conf

Note: This removes existing nameserver entries in /etc/resolv.conf and adds Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) and Google (8.8.8.8) DNS servers. Adjust as necessary.

8.2 Preserve Bash History

Ensure that your Bash history is preserved across sessions by appending the following lines to your ~/.bashrc:

echo 'shopt -s histappend' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; $PROMPT_COMMAND"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

The source ~/.bashrc command reloads your Bash configuration immediately. The final exit command (if desired) will end your current session:

exit

Note: Use exit only when you are finished configuring your shell or if you wish to log out.

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9. Clean Up

Remove any unnecessary packages to keep your system tidy:

sudo apt autoremove -y