[snip]
I really don't agree with the thrust of Lisandro's comments. AFAICT
what Lisandro is saying is this: because the upstream components may
not always be perfect; and even may be totally inappropriate; they are
useless or harmful for packaging for Debian.
Now that you mention it I reckon it can be read that way, indeed.
But no, my real fear here was a tool more in the cpack kind. Years ago we had packagers trying to get their stuff in by using cpack. While it might be of some help for non official packages it was not really fit for official ones.
Kyle has made it really clear that they intend to support the various realities they will probably face if people start using it everywhere to create good quality packaging, so yes, I also applaud the effort... now ;-)
Cheers, Lisandro.