Earlier quoted context omitted.
I started with "sudo apt install python" a long time ago and this installed python2. This was during the decades-long transition from python2 to python3, so half the programs didn't work so I installed python3 via "sudo apt install python3". Of course now I had to switch between python2 and python3 depending on the program I wanted to run, that's why Debian/Ubuntu had "sudo update-alternatives --config python" for ma…
Your comment shows the sad state of software quality those days. Rust is the same, move fast and break things. And lately also Mesa started to suffer from the same disease. You basically need, those days, the same build env like the one on the developer's machine or the build will fail.
Instead, we should always choose the common denominator of the most obsolete software platform imaginable. If there is an OS that has not been maintained for several decades, then that is the baseline we should strive to support.
Using an operating system with old libraries and language runtimes is not a personal preference with the consequences of restricting oneself to older software versions, no, it is a commandment and must not be questioned.