I've been using Linux (specially Debian) for a long time and never heard of debootstrap and systemd-nspawn before. By the *Pros* you listed it looks like something I'd love to incorporate in my toolbox. 

Do you mind sharing an example repository with configurations and scripts you use só I can take a look on how you manage things?

felipe

Pros: lightweight, I run full gui apps/web servers/dbs in there, everything is in a folder, can just delete it all and reinstall easily, no docker/kubernetes complexity

Cons: systemd-nspawn so no Mac support which is like 80% of Devs

devs

Share your favorite local project dev environments or resources

k00b

My setup for each project:
* debootstrap --variant=minbase to create a minimal debian base os in a directory 
* systemd-nspawn to chroot into debian base
* A bash init script to install stuff, apt install. Put script in git

Pros: lightweight, I run full gui apps/web servers/dbs in there, everything is in a folder, can just delete it all and reinstall easily, no docker/kubernetes complexity

Cons: systemd-nspawn so no Mac support which is like 80% of Devs