That's solving the problem by adding complexity. Switching to Debian is solving the problem by taking away complexity. I know which one I'd prefer

I disagree, using a filesystem with snapshot support is hardly adding complexity (to the problem, sure the kernel code for btrfs might be more complex, but It's mainline since years and won't eat your data). I interpret your comment to suggest unwise practices for data management. Being able to do snapshots and send them off to wherever is important. This fills the void on your system that git fills for your source-code.