If you have a good handle on DC systems and inverters it's not that bad. Hardest part in my experience is figuring things out with your power company if you're staying on grid.
Also at least in the us, check your town and state for rebates and such. A lot of the time these scummy solar companies are double dipping, charging you 20k and also getting a couple k from the gov through solar programs.
While I totally agree with you about package managers, I still run into a lot of apps that the only install option is a .deb downloaded from a webpage. Which is comparable to running a .exe on windows.