On Wed, 2 Dec 2015 11:17:53 +0100
Jaromil <jaromil@???> wrote:

> Are there alternatives for preventing packages to be installed?
>
> We need to decide if to incorporate this change also into Devuan.
>
> Many people will be negatively affected by yet another limitation of
> their freedom, being now unable to choose if a certain package should
> be installed on their system.
>
> I am wondering what is Debian's rationale to do something like that?
> anyone has more insights?

Whoaaa, Jaromil, you're starting to sound like that Steve Litt guy. I
know what your suspicion is regarding Debian's rationale. I
have an extra tinfoil hat, if that would help you reveal your suspicion.

> We are not affected: Devuan has never relied on pinning to protect our
> freedom from the systemd avalanche, but some people do and this move
> looks like the DD's left in the Debian project want to shovel their
> decisions down the throat of all users.

There, you said it. I'll ship you an extra Tinfoil Hat.

Meanwhile, in my opinion, of course you should not incorporate this
change into Devuan. This change specifically gives the finger to a
certain subset of users, and that's no good at all. Here's an essay I
wrote about such goings on maybe 10 years ago:

http://troubleshooters.com/lpm/200612/200612.htm#_You_Bet_Im_Mad

Retaining the old way of pinning today is like retaining ndiswrapper in
2006: Perhaps religionally unpalatable, but absolutely necessary to a
subset of users. I hope you don't incorporate this change.

And perhaps not even religionally unpalatable: I think most folks
prioritize shelter from systemd over exact compatibility with Debian.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
November 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques