[zenogantner]

Maybe try Debian stable?

Ubuntu is based on Debian, and the releases receive mostly security updates ... so this might be really something for you.

Also, no snaps as far as I know.

[doubled112]

Debian Stable + XFCE would probably be my go to.

I've heard XFCE described as "the Debian of DEs" and I think it's pretty accurate. Slow careful changes over years, but the good things stay.

I'm not sure how Debian's LTS support works. Stable becomes old-stable in 2 years. It's supported for a while longer. If it is Debian and XFCE though, it's likely that the end user hardly notices the upgrade.

I suppose RHEL based distros have a 10 year support term, and could be a good choice too.

[lockhouse]

This! If you truly do not want your OS to change other than bug and security fixes for 10 years it’s hard to beat a RHEL based distro. If you don’t mind making an account for it, you can even run RHEL itself for free for personal use.

https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/overview

[doubled112]

You have to renew the RHEL developer license yearly.

I'm way too lazy for that, so I tend to recommend the other options. The account is 100% worth access to their documentation though.

Also, RHEL changes. They have even rebased to a new GNOME release on a point release before.

[theandrewbailey]

I'd probably go for Rocky (the spiritual successor to CentOS) before RHEL.

https://rockylinux.org/

https://rockylinux.org/about