Linux distros need to be less sloppy about encapsulating the complexity of the bundled programs and config information required to run a desktop environment or window manager. Package groups exist for a reason, but there needs to be more, to include default config files, etc, reliably outside of a live installer environment. I switch desktops and window managers, etc, fairly regularly even though it is almost always not officially supported. It is only not easily supported because of sloppy distro packaging practices, and a reticence to write original documentation. Does anyone know linux distros that support this officially, or provide better abstractions which make the unsupported path easier?

I am really sick of condescending maintainers telling forum newbies that they just need to reinstall their distro every time if they don't know how to undo the distro package dependency spaghetti on their own immediately. That's lazy and unnecessary. Making them work 8 hours to get their own independent account of what is required to proceed, or work iteratively on a half-broken setup to find out what unspecified requirements exist, should be a thing of the past by now.