Okay, I see. Here's the correct info:

(Reading database ... 200414 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../synaptic_0.91.7+nmu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking synaptic (0.91.7+nmu1) over (0.91.7) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of synaptic:
 synaptic depends on libxapian30 (>= 1.4.28~); however:
  Package libxapian30 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package synaptic (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.74) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.28-1) ...
Processing triggers for mate-menus (1.26.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.18-2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 synaptic

You're right, it wasn't installed. Anyway, here is a screenshot showing that it is saying it will install 115 more packages (trying to upgrade from the .deb file).

And here's the output of sudo dpkg -i /home/ ... /synaptic-build-deps_0.91.7_all.deb

Selecting previously unselected package synaptic-build-deps.
(Reading database ... 200410 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../synaptic-build-deps_0.91.7_all.deb ...
Unpacking synaptic-build-deps (0.91.7) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of synaptic-build-deps:
 synaptic-build-deps depends on libapt-pkg-dev; however:
  Package libapt-pkg-dev is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on libgtk-3-dev; however:
  Package libgtk-3-dev is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on libvte-2.91-dev; however:
  Package libvte-2.91-dev is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on intltool; however:
  Package intltool is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on xmlto; however:
  Package xmlto is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on libsm-dev; however:
  Package libsm-dev is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on sharutils; however:
  Package sharutils is not installed.
 synaptic-build-deps depends on libxapian-dev; however:
  Package libxapian-dev is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package synaptic-build-deps (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 synaptic-build-deps

I tried building something from source once, and the resultant app caused an unstable system requiring a reinstall, so I'm hesitant to try building from source again. If I do, just run these 3 commands in terminal?

git clone https://github.com/mvo5/synaptic.git
cd synaptic
debuild

Yes.

So following a link within the link given above, I found that someone has (supposedly) fixed it, here:
https://github.com/mvo5/synaptic/issues … 3616629445

Following the link in the link I just gave I found the deb installer. If I were to install it, how do I go about it? Should I purge the Synaptic now on my system, then install the fixed one?

You don't have to do it from the terminal. I don't. A few things would help to know. What desktop environment did you install with Devuan? Xfce, Mate, something else? Also it would be nice to know what text editor you use.

A few words of encouragement: the more you start to play with "Linux," the more you'll start to understand things. Everybody was a beginner once.

Why not just copy the image you want over to /usr/share/slim/themes/<theme_name>/? Then just delete the current image (or rename it to something else) and change the name of the new image to background.png/jpg.

Did you also know you can put multiple folders in /usr/share/slim/themes/ and make an edit to /etc/slim.conf so that you can have multiple images it randomly chooses from? That's what I do.

Okay, so I deleted it in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d where I accidentally put it, and then put it in /etc/udev/rules.d where it should be. Rebooted and works (again). Remarked as "SOLVED." Thanks again rolfie.

[Maybe I don't have as much of a clue as I thought I did to put it in the wrong place. ]

I don't know what's going on, but now when I browse to /etc/udev/rules.d it shows the folder as completely empty. However, the fix still works. Any clue what's going on? (In the meantime I unmarked it as "SOLVED" even though it still is working.)

EDIT
I see what I did. I put the fix in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d and not /etc/udev/rules.d. But it's working. Should I leave well enough alone? Or will an update erase the file in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d?

So I went ahead and just did it, and it works. Thanks rolfie. Now I have something new to add to my list of things to do after a reinstall. I really hate these things that "corporate actors" (to use your phrase) do trying to protect the user from himself. It sucks for those of us who have a clue of what we're doing.

Hi greenjeans, I installed today your Devuan-Mate-Mini-6-20250901_1322.iso. Thanks for making this available. After a minor hiccup I got things running smoothly. (I was having an extended boot time, way beyond normal. After some poking around the answer was to add the word "noresume" on a line in fstab.)

Thanks again. 👍