luajit is small, fast(well, it can jit), and has a small but complete standard library and can do FFI pretty easily, should be ideal for most homelab usecase

ldd $(which luajit)                                                                                
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffee9dc7000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fb4db618000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fb4db613000)
        libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fb4db5f3000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fb4db3ca000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fb4db799000)

god-awful installer

lol, it’s not that bad is it? I have installed fedora on 2 of our machine without a single issue 😂

I, too, have been a longtime fan of Gnome. It’s workflow IMO is quite practical and pleasant to use.

Slightly off-topic here, but have you considered Fedora? For me it just gets the job done and stays out of my way. I don’t want to configure a whole bunch of things before I can get to work so I find fedora simple to use and well-integrated. Docs and forums are quite helpful too.