Things To Do After Installing Debian 8

Here is a list of things I recommend doing after a fresh install of Debian 8.

Related Posts

• Things to do after installing Debian 9

Things To Do

Configure Mirror

If you installed from the CDs and did not set up the mirror, then you will need to configure debian to use a mirror for updates.

su  
rm /etc/apt/sources.list  
editor /etc/apt/sources.list  

Fill the file with the following (taken from here):

deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian jessie main
deb-src http://httpredir.debian.org/debian jessie main

deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main
deb-src http://httpredir.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main

deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main

Alternatively, use the UK mirror as follows:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian jessie main
deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian jessie main

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main
deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main

deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main

Configure Sudo

Login as root and install sudo

su  
apt-get install sudo  

Now add your subuser to sudo users and use that user from now on.

adduser $MY_SUBUSER sudo  

Update

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y  

Disable root login

SEARCH="PermitRootLogin yes"
REPLACE="PermitRootLogin no"
FILEPATH="/etc/ssh/sshd_config"
sudo sed -i "s;$SEARCH;$REPLACE;" $FILEPATH

# Restart the openssh service for changes to take effect.
sudo service ssh restart

Install VIM

sudo apt-get install vim -y  

Then enable syntax highlighting.

Set VIM to be the default editor (crontab)

echo 'export EDITOR=vim' >> $HOME/.bashrc
sudo update-alternatives --config editor

Add ifconfig to your PATH.

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/sbin"' >> $HOME/.bashrc  

Install byobu

sudo apt-get install byobu -y  

Killall

Debian doesn't come with the killall command by default. You can install it with the psmisc package.

sudo apt-get install psmisc  

SSH Exit Cleanly

The systemd system in debian does not close ssh connections before powering off, which can leave your terminal hanging when you send the poweroff of restart commands. Resolve this here.