I read the MX article
“, you can enable systemd, install some package that requires it, and then disable it again.”
I thought I read somewhere that enabling systemd in MX was a one-way trip…ie once enabled it could not be disabled
There is another path to what the article suggests
Have you seen the Antix init diversity spin?
It allows you to boot any of 5 init systems by choosing from the grub menu. There is one binary, it contains all init systems and the choice at boot triggers which one is activated. It does not include systemd.
So given that MX is derived from Antix, I would suggest it may go in that direction. Antix has no problem being a Debian derivative with non-systemd init systems, so MX can clearly manage that.
I used Freebsd in about 1993, but I used BSD before that… probably about 1982?