This was just an outline of what you could do in the scenario, not a full solution. Looking up the keywords, "Apptainer" (+sandbox), ".sif", and "AppImage" should give you a starting point, and any specific questions can be answered separately. You are right that people could be jerks to beginners but this is rarely the intent. Not all discourse about Linux has to be at a beginner level, and packaging legacy software is not really a beginner topic.