@antifuchs unfortunately I stick to Ubuntu because it's easy for me to google for solutions to most problems I run into (ultimately my problem with other distros I have tried in the last 10 years has been: I do not like spending time on forums tracking down solutions to problems I have)
@darius that has been my tendency too: but over the years things change and fixes from forums stop working. This declarative config stuff only changes when I ask it to (: