How to avoid stealth installation of systemd?

[Juliusz Chroboczek <jch@pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr>]

Dear all,

A few days ago, after a routine upgrade from testing, the power button on
my laptop ceased functioning.  I was busy at the time, so I lived with
having to remember to type "sudo shutdown -h now" for a few days; yesterday,
I finally took the time to debug the issue.

I started with "strace -p $(pidof acpid)$", and it took me almost an hour
to work it out.  It turns out that apt had helpfully installed systemd, so
the powerbtn-acpi-support.sh script was detecting a running systemd-logind,
and (reasonably enough) going on strike.

I was a little bit annoyed at that, so I filed bug 753357, which was
immediately closed by Michael Biebl with the following advice:

  > install systemd-shim

I reopened the bug and explained that I have no desire to run systemd,
that the actual bug is about silently breaking my power button during
a routine upgrade, and that perhaps, just perhaps, the systemd maintainers
could be so kind as to avoid such issues in the future by adding suitable
"conflicts" to the systemd package.  The bug was immediately closed again:

  > Certainly not.

So I'm turning to this list for help:

  1. Could some competent person tell me the right way to tell apt that it
     should fail an upgrade rather than installing systemd?  I guess
     I could make a dummy package that conflicts with systemd, but I'm
     sure there's a better way.

  2. Could some kind soul explain to the systemd maintainers that gentle
     persuasion, while not always the most efficient way to take over the
     world, is more in line with point 4 of the Debian Social Contract
     than alternative approaches such as bullying?

Thanks a lot,

-- Juliusz