The majority of Linux distributions out there seem to be over-engineering their method of distribution. They are not giving us a new distribution of Linux. They are giving us an existing distribution of Linux, but with a different distribution of non-system software (like a different desktop environment or configuration of it)
In many cases, turning an installation of the base distribution used to the one they’re shipping is a matter of installing certain packages and setting some configurations. Why should the user be required to reinstall their whole OS for this?
It would be way more practical if those distributions are available as packages, preferably managed by the package manager itself. This is much easier for both the user and the developer.
Some developers may find it less satisfying to do this, and I don’t mean to force my opinion on anyone, but only suggesting that there’s an easier way to do this. Distributions should be changing things that aren’t easily doable without a system reinstall.
To clarify, I am not saying that maintainers should not modify software. I am saying that if they don’t, that making a whole different distribution is overkill and over complicated, and it is much easier for both them and the user to have it as a package instead.
For releases, it would be simply done just like any other package. There’s a vast number of packages that already do everything you can imagine, and they have none of the show stopping troubles you speak of.