Mint and Debian Differences¶
The contest's two Linux images are Linux Mint 21 and Debian 12. Both are Debian-family systems, so everything on this site works on both: apt, sudo, ufw, systemctl, /etc/passwd, chmod, PAM, all of it. What differs is the desktop, the login screen, a few file locations, and root. This page is the translation table.
Mint 21 is built on Ubuntu 22.04, so where a page mentions an Ubuntu detail (the jammy release name, the apt sources format, apport), Mint 21 matches it. Debian 12 ("bookworm") is the upstream both come from.
Mint images use the Cinnamon desktop (the default edition) or MATE. Debian 12 images use GNOME. The menus are laid out differently but the tool names are the same.
Desktop and menu¶
The menu is in the bottom-left corner, like the Windows Start button. Terminal is in the menu under Accessories, or right-click the desktop → Open in Terminal. Ctrl+Alt+T works too.
The graphical text editor is xed, not gedit:
sudo xed /etc/login.defs
Control Center¶
Mint has no Settings app in the Ubuntu sense. Instead: Menu → Control Center (on the left side of the menu). It's closer to the Windows Control Panel, with icons for each tool. The Administration section of the menu lists the security-relevant ones directly.
| Task | Debian 12 (GNOME) | Mint 21 (Cinnamon or MATE) |
|---|---|---|
| Manage accounts | Settings → Users | Menu → Users and Groups (Control Center on MATE) |
| Set a password | Settings → Users → Password | Users and Groups → select user → Change next to Password → Set password by hand |
| Updates | Software Updater | Control Center → Update Manager |
| Update settings | Software & Updates | Update Manager → Edit → Preferences (Options and Automation tabs) |
| Software sources | Software & Updates → tabs | Update Manager → Edit → Software Sources |
| Firewall GUI | Not installed; sudo apt install gufw |
Firewall in the menu (gufw ships with Mint; the benchmark expects it installed, CIS 4.1.1) |
| Text editor | gedit | xed |
| Login screen | GDM (/etc/gdm3/custom.conf) |
LightDM with the Slick greeter (/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf) |
| Screen lock keys | org.gnome.desktop.screensaver |
org.cinnamon.desktop.screensaver (Cinnamon), org.mate.screensaver (MATE) |
| Package sources | /etc/apt/sources.list |
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list |
| Firefox | apt package, profile in ~/.mozilla |
Same (no snap) |
| Snaps | Not installed | Blocked by Mint on purpose; Flatpak is the extra package system |
| Crash reporting | None | apport is present but off; keep it off (CIS 1.5.6) |
Users and Groups also has a Manage Groups button for group membership, including the sudo group.
Update Manager¶
Open it from Control Center. It lists available updates with checkboxes, all selected by default. Click Install Updates and authenticate. It may ask to update itself first; let it.
Edit → Preferences → Options sets how often to check. Automation turns on automatic installs. Edit → Software Sources controls which repositories you trust, same idea as Ubuntu's Software & Updates tabs.
Root¶
Mint leaves the root account with no password: su fails, sudo -i works with your own password. Debian sets a root password during installation and, if the installer was given one, doesn't create a sudo group member at all. On a Debian image, check getent group sudo first; if the README's administrator isn't in it, su - with the root password, then usermod -aG sudo alice. The Root Account page has the rest.
Try it¶
- Find Users and Groups, Update Manager, and Software Sources on a Mint image, then the same three on a Debian image.
- Check
getent group sudoon a fresh Debian install and see whether anyone is in it.
Build it¶
Nothing yet. Note which distro each of your tools has been tested on; the file paths on this page are where they'll differ.