After reading the whole "keep as close to debian as possible" thread, and in
my well-known spirit of resuming threads, I think we can benefit from the
Principle of the Onion.

At first stage (Devuan Jessie), we'll use a pinned repository with our
desinfected packages, to provide our users (that's ourselves, in the first run)
with the One Thing that made us congregate: a systemd-free Debian. Some
packages (like Gnome) may become uninstallable from Debian repository and
absent from ours: that's OK.

After that (Devuan Aiken or Alhambra), we'll increment the amount of packages
*WE* take care of. How much each of these packages takes from and gives to
Debian depends on each maintainer. Some people will be happy of maintaining
the same package both for Debian and Devuan. Some pairs of people will have
good relations and share patched back and forth. Some pairs of people will
have bad relations and packages will diverge between Debian and Devuan, and
there will be a core of systemd-free packages that will be technically
impossible to share. The Onion will have three layers now: a systemd-free
core, a Devuan-specific but not-core set of packages, and the Debian
repository.

While time develops, more layers will be added to the Onion from the saucy
inner core to the skinny external layers. Will Debian always be the onion
skin? We do not know, and it is not important just now.

To resume the principle: The best way to create a very complex project is to
add one layer at a time.

Regards

er Envite