Hi from a retired IT manager in rain soaked Prince Edward Island

i feel your pain, from drenched saint-louis, n.b.

Actually gave me my first opportunity to fix something new, facing this bootchart error : "No path given, trying /var/log/bootchart.tgz warning: path '/var/log/bootchart.tgz' does not exist,"... finally tracked the answer down on the Debian wiki, which involved a simple addition to the command line in grub, and a lightly sarcastic hint from the maintainer, to read the info in the docs directory....
Simple but satisfying !!!!
Now to do a reinstall with a very minimal XFCE system, built from just the base install. For example, building XFCE4 piece by piece.. e.g. XFCE4-panel, session,terrminal, thunar, etc. This was how my previous Debian Jessie installation was built, other than a learning process dealing with starting and stopping services, I hope i don't bork the install too badly....  I'm having fun already LOL !!!
Regards
Richard

And since this is gnu/linux, there are probably 10 more ways to do it that I don't know about.

Have fun, and welcome to the forum.

there are some serious problems looming between Systemd and the Kernel development group. The kernel itself is tightly guarded for very good reasons, and modifying it to fix problems caused by external developers (whoever they may be) is not in the interest of the broad Linux community

Well now, isn't this interesting.  I kind of left behind the systemd arguments when I did my first bootstrap install of devuan over two years ago.  Been using it ever since (or a derivative).  Seems that systemd is trying to creep even harder into the kernel.  Lets hope not.

Welcome to the forums myrddin, and I like your analogy about the auto manufacturer!

One more non-Systemd installation to add to the list. I replaced my Debian Jessie today with Devuan XFCE..Flawless install, and up and running with no problems.
I do have one question though... Is there an equivalent command to system-analyze, blame plot (etc) for looking in at the boot process.

I admire what you (Devuan) are doing and based on what I have read (only scratched the surface) there are some serious problems looming between Systemd and the Kernel development group. The kernel itself is tightly guarded for very good reasons, and modifying it to fix problems caused by external developers (whoever they may be) is not in the interest of the broad Linux community, To draw a parallel, an auto manufacturer would not modify any in-house designs because a supplier screwed up, and the part doesn't fit any more. Even in my limited exposure to Systemd, it is obvious how it is gradually encompassing more and more system functions.

Regards to all
Richard