Is there a meta-init system of sorts that you could target as package developer and then have it generate sysvinit, systemd, bsd rc artifacts for you?
see: https://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/debugging-systemd-sysv-ini... https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/8-systemd-sysv-g...
* https://pkginfo.devuan.org/cgi-bin/d1pkgweb-query?search=sys...
* https://packages.debian.org/search?suite=stretch&searchon=na...
And in any case, the unit files that it auto-generates are (alas! from necessity) too generic to be completely useful, because they have a one size fits all approach that does not really work fully for anything.
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/233581/5132
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/394191/5132
I don't understand your tone here. The Devuan project is ~150 packages on top of Debian that aim specifically to remove the systemd dependencies. "Init freedom lovers", as you put it, can still use Debian, no?