I agree quite a bit with your last paragraph. Linux package managers are awful, with the two most popular (deb and rpm) being hellscapes of haphazard poorly documented cruft.

Linux distributions are also harder to deal with than the Apple Store, an "accomplishment" given how bad that is. Getting a package into them is terrible. They are informal cliques, and that worked back in the 90s but now doesn't scale.

Package management in general is an area ripe for a complete overhaul. Unfortunately that's hard, and it's hard not to fall into the "second system effect" trap and create something even more unwieldy than what you are replacing. Look at systemd.