Sorry for the slow process and the "noob mistakes" guys. I have to deal with tests at the same time

Edit:
tuned and tuned-ppd added (without full runit support)
power-profiles-daemon fixed (optional sysvinit daemon. no runit support yet)
thermald d-bus activation fixed

Ah, thanks! I forgot about checking MX Linux.

@greenjeans

My idea is to write services for software that you have to run as a daemon, while making sure that dbus can start any program that's supposed to be launched via dbus and have every systemd user service converted into something using xdg autostart, xsessions, whatever.

@abower

I heard so too, but having one tool for patching packages comming directly from Debian would really be worth it IMO

I know. There are threads for getting everything to work. That's still not an out of the box experience as you have to fix it manually

Hmm, don't know what's wrong with my installation then, but in this case I can remove these services.

Definitely not a bad idea, but we still need to prepare the init scripts for them and I doubt that they'll, for example, provide a way to run pipewire via autostart files.

I'd also advise against patching the DEBAIN/postinst etc. maintscripts - these are _outputs_ of the package build process and this is just asking for trouble over time. Better to patch the source packages in the proper way and let the debhelpers set up the maintscripts. Better still, try to do it in Debian first and then in Devuan if a maintainer absolutely refuses to co-operate with a polite attempt to contribute.

I've been struggling with complicated solutions described. The only issue is this extra dependency on daemon.
How would you guys prefer handling user daemons?

Since you asked...and keeping in mind i'm a sample size of one and do not speak for others, in general i'd prefer to have as few running as possible. I can't imagine having to use 3 just to get sound when in fact it's possible to use none at all.

That being said my post will likely trigger a lecture from steve_v about the minimal ram usage of such things, lol.

Pipewire is fast becoming a thing of way too many tendrils for a simple sound server, this seems systemd-ish behavior to me.

/usr/bin/pipewire-start

#!/bin/bash

configfile="$HOME/.config/Devuan/pipewire-start.conf"
if [ ! -e "$configfile" ]; then
	echo "#delay wireplumber session manager to give pipewire time to settle before launch" > "$configfile"
	echo "wireplumber_delay=2" >> "$configfile"
fi

source "$configfile"

#start them up
echo "starting pipewire"
#kill existing servers per user
if [ -n "$(pgrep -x -u $USER pipewire)" ]; then
	pkill -x -u $USER pipewire
fi
if [ -n "$(pgrep -x -u $USER pipewire-pulse)" ]; then
	pkill -x -u $USER pipewire-pulse
fi
if [ -n "$(pgrep -x -u $USER wireplumber)" ]; then
    pkill -u $USER wireplumber
fi
#start up new servers
/usr/bin/pipewire 2>/dev/null &
/usr/bin/pipewire-pulse &
#ignore config file value if not a postive non-zero number
check=$(echo "$wireplumber_delay>0" | bc -l)
if [ $check == 1 ]; then
	echo "delay wireplumber server start $wireplumber_delay seconds"
	echo "configurable in $configfile"
	sleep $wireplumber_delay
fi
/usr/bin/wireplumber 2>/dev/null &

exit 0

/usr/bin/wireplumber-start

#!/bin/bash
#try to start wireplumber all the time
if [ -z "$(pgrep -x -u $USER wireplumber)" ]; then
    echo "start wireplumber"
	/usr/bin/wireplumber &
fi

exit 0

/etc/xdg/autostart/pipewire-start.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.9.4
Type=Application
Name=pipewire (sysVinit)
Comment=pipewire (sysvinit)
Exec=/usr/bin/pipewire-start
Terminal=false
Hidden=false

• Using a script that automatically makes use of packages when they're installed. (For making use of daemon or init systems with user services when available with a fallback)

• Also include user services for init systems that support it

• Just adding daemon as a dependency and use that

I think it's important to define how we should go about with "user serices"

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I already added scripts for the following packages (only tested with SysVinit):

• accountsservice

• nftables

• pipewire

• pipewire-pulse

• polkitd

• power-profiles-daemon

• wireplumber

There is a caveat though:
For pipewire, pipewire-pulse and wireplumber I couldn't create services (I don't want them to run as root).
Instead it's handled via /etc/xdg/autostart/pipewire.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=PipeWire
Comment=Start the PipeWire media server for the current user session
Exec=/usr/libexec/pipewire/pipewire-session-start

/usr/libexec/pipewire/pipewire-session-start

#!/bin/sh
set -eu

# Rootless session starter for PipeWire on Devuan.
# This is intended for graphical user sessions only (for now).

# Do nothing if a runtime directory is not available.
[ -n "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-}" ] || exit 0
[ -d "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR" ] || exit 0

# Avoid duplicate instances for the same user.
if command -v pgrep >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    if pgrep -u "$(id -u)" -x pipewire >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        exit 0
    fi
fi

# If a session D-Bus is already available, start directly.
if [ -n "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS:-}" ]; then
    exec /usr/bin/pipewire
fi

# If dbus-run-session exists, use it as a fallback for sessions that do not
# already provide a user bus.
if command -v dbus-run-session >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    exec dbus-run-session /usr/bin/pipewire
fi

# Last resort: start PipeWire anyway. This supports minimal setups that provide
# enough environment without a session bus.
exec /usr/bin/pipewire

When wireplumber OR pipewire-pulse are installed a little file will be added to /usr/share/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d that automatically loads the installed package when pipewire starts. I also made sure that pipewire-pulse starts AFTER wireplumber

10-wireplumber.conf

context.exec = [
    { path = "/usr/bin/wireplumber" args = "" }
]

20-pipewire-pulse.conf

context.exec = [
    { path = "/usr/bin/pipewire-pulse" args = "" }
]

My requirements aren't fulfilled though, because there's one thing I definitely want and one thing that you guys MIGHT want:
I want to displaymanagers like sddm, lightdm, tdm, etc to have their own pipewire session. This isn't only useful for a greeter sound, but also screenreaders.
This is one of the reasons why  xdg autostart really isn't ideal. Please let me know if you have any good ideas. Having pipewire when only using a tty would also be nice.

Meanwhile you guys might want a way to have pipewire and wireplumber installed, but disabled. Let me know if that's what you want, because it will be important for porting all systemd services that should only run in a user session.

It's better to write from scratch.

The challenging parts, such as they are, often relate to system integration considerations that are distro-specific, how to ensure consistent behaviour across init systems and how to make sure upgrades work well.

Honestly, the systemd service units are a better source of ideas but even they often cargo-cult from what has gone before (including otiose initscripts).

Consider using Devuan's official Git repository. That way, you ensure Micro$lop doesn't remove you for whatever reason, and your hard work isn't lost.