For last 5 or 6 months (may be 7) I am using Linux. Currently I am using Arch based EndeavourOS which is working without any problem. As I am now using Linux on daily basis, I want to use Linux for my website development work. Now, in EOS Telegram channel when I asked about how to install specific versions of Apache, PHP, MariaDB and phpmyadmin in EOS and keep them unchanged, they adviced me not to use a rolling release distro like EOS for that purpose, instead using a fixed release distro. So, friends, please help on which distro should I use where I can install and use my above mentioned packages without using docker and keep them unchanged. If I must have to use docker then how can I use a GUI on it to make my life easier? Please help me.
There is a program called ‘distrobox’ which makes docker easy. You can use it with docker or podman. It allows you setup an app in a container and use it as if it were a normal installed package.
Did they give a reason?
Why do you want specific versions?
I am sure you could do website development in a rolling release environment… it may even be an advantage.
The commercial world seems to have boxed itself into a corner where everything is stable and containerized and immutable.
Stick with your EOS… you like it. I dont think any
of those packages you mention will change enough to bother you.
It is a bad idea to try and overcome every problem you encounter by changing distros.
I still remember that adventure… 
The ‘reason’ as I have mentioned in my post that I want the versions of those packages i.e. Apache, PHP, MariaDB and phpmyadmin to be unchanged because if they get changed then they would not match with the versions installed in my shared server and my websites might break after uploading because with every upgrade in PHP some codes get depricated. I asked them if I can make them unchanged using ‘IgnorePkg’ in ‘pacman.conf’ file. They told me that it can be done but not for long because by any chance those packages got updated accidentally, then my work would be screwed. So they told me to use some container like Docker. But as ‘Docker’ is a CLI programme and I want to make my life easy, I need either a GUI for Docker or another container app which has a GUI.
Yes. EOS is not giving me any weird problem and it is working fine but I thought of dual booting with another ‘fixed release’ distro. But as it seems that those packages can be updated in fixed release distros also, so it would be better to use a container as you advised.
Mee too!!
One of the longest adventures though…
I think I am not that adventurous but I would probably try to resolve the weird problem I had with Debian which we had discussed in another thread where you were also a participant in the discussion. 
Yes, fixed release distros still have updates.
If you are exporting work to other systems there are 4 approaches
- use containers
- export static binaries
- make the work system independent… ie write programs in a language that guarantees backward compatability and dont call any system routines or other packages.
- export source code with a configure script and a makefile… this is what linux does… distros are built by porting source code. Source code is much more portable than binaries.
Have a look at distrobox… it is easier than docker
You can build containers in EOS. What goes in the container does not depend on what versions are in EOS.