I am new to this list, and I beg your pardon should this matter
already have been addressed.
Please consider this simple example scenario: Volunteer intends
to provide a modification of a Debian package "xyz", where the
modification is to drop a dependency on systemd (& co.).
Supposed sourse of action:
(1) Volunteer downloads "xyz" Debian jessie package sources.
(2) Volunteer makes changes to "debian/rules".
(3) Volunteer makes changes to "debian/control" where neccessary.
As result, volunteer will have a package source that can be built
into a package that does not introduce a dependency on systemd.
Question: How will volunteer version the new package?