tate , 1 month ago

Please don’t take this as one of the rude responses you refer to above - that is not my intent.

Why do you want to use Mint in the first place? The only thing that distinguishes Mint from any other Debian derivative, is that they have made all these software choices for you, and you don’t have to do anything to get your system ready for you to be productive. It’s aimed at folks who don’t want to think at all about any of the concerns you have about customizing.

If you don’t like the choices Mint has made, there is literally no reason to choose it. Start with a minimal version of Debian, and add whatever you want. The end result will be the same as starting with Mint and swapping things out. The only difference will be the address of your repositories.