Answerrit

Answerrit posts are short, practical write-ups that start with a concrete question and end with a working solution. No theory dumps, no five pages of background — just the problem and the fix.

Most of these come from people asking questions on Reddit and me answering them. These questions and answers can often be generalized enough for the greater community and don’t need Reddit. A personal StackOverflow, without the voting.

Question: apt wants to remove packages during testing/unstable upgrade. How do I fix it?

When apt wants to remove packages during an upgrade on Debian unstable, focus on what to install. Use apt-cache, aptitude to trace deps and guide the resolver.

Question: My Debian doesn't boot with a GUI

Troubleshoot Debian not booting to GUI by checking display manager status, systemd targets, and default-display-manager configuration.

Question: How do I register deepin-terminal as an alternative on Debian?

Register custom terminal emulators in Debian's alternatives system using update-alternatives, including --slave option for man page integration.

Question: How does Debian solve converging configuration files?

Learn how to override Debian package configs without losing changes during upgrades using .d directories, ordering, and dpkg-diver

Question: How to avoid killing an i3 scratchpad window

Why i3's scratchpad_state is always none in get_tree, how to find it on the floating_con parent, and a script to avoid killing scratchpad windows by mistake.

Question: How can you configure grub to use a specific kernel?

Configure GRUB to boot specific kernels on Debian using GRUB_DEFAULT, menu IDs, or saved defaults. Includes submenu handling and troubleshooting.

Question: How can I prevent multiple logins via LightDM

Prevent multiple simultaneous user logins in LightDM by disabling user switching in both the display manager and xscreensaver lock screen.

Question: How to source your .profile with LightDM on Debian?

Source .profile and .xprofile in LightDM on Debian by creating a custom session wrapper. Includes dpkg-divert approach and Ansible playbook.