My notes: Debian 9 installation & common fixes

Recently I decided to start using a GNU/Linux distribution as the main OS on my desktop instead of Windows 10 (why?).

I’ve tried various distributions, installation methods and window managers and finally found a setup that worked for me. In this post I’ll share my notes with you, so you can hopefully save some time and frustration.

By following the steps below, I’m able to set up a clean, error-free GNU/Linux environment in about 20-30 minutes.

Catch-all handling for old URLs in Silex to improve SEO

The problem

Every time you make changes to URLs of a website, you risk messing up your hard earned Search Engine Optimization (SEO) scores. To eliminate 404 errors, it’s a best practise to forward old URLs with a 301 status code (moved permanently).

The approach above works great if you’re disciplined. But when making large changes to the URL structure of a website, an automated solution is needed.

This simple solution I’ve built has been working for a few years now.

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