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Switch from Ubuntu to something immutable?
(lemmy.ca)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Unless you've absolutely made the kernel or package manager unusable, there should be no need to reinstall an entire Linux OS. It's not like Windows where the registry changes over time, and the OS will become unstable or quirky. It sounds like you just need to be more diligent about doing things in userspace.
Not OP, but speaking as a Linux newb, what is a "userspace" exactly?
Anything done locally that only affects your user is userspace. Doing configuration changes in userspace versus globally will reduce the likelihood of you breaking something. So making changes in ~/.local, for example, instead of /usr/local.
That seems to be a common usage of the term, but strictly speaking, "userspace" is anything that's not the kernel. This includes system-level programs, libraries and settings configured as "root" that can affect all users.