More and more guix or nixos seem like good practical choices for these kinds of use cases. I prefer guix as it's a little less finicky (though https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix is probably required for all non-purists such as this lowly worm).

Ubuntu OS is now stinky doodoo, which is a shame as it used to be the cat's pajamas for ease of use. Snapd is a debacle.