also the more basic unix tools written in ocaml the better.

I would very much enjoy seeing a shell written in a safe language. The problem is, just installing such a shell isn't enough - it'd have to be capable of being copied into /bin/sh to actually make a fully safe platform.

This.

I really would like to see at least Debian get to a point where init is actually a swappable component in the real world.

Debian already is at that point. You can chose between sysvinit and systemd. You can also install openrc or upstart, but there’s very few packages which are being tested with these init systems, so expect to run into trouble.

That said, I expect sysvinit to be phased out over time. Debian simply doesn’t have the manpower to find and address bugs with that many combinations.

> Debian already is at that point.

I said "real world", where Debian is clearly not at that point:

> but there’s very few packages which are being tested with these init systems, so expect to run into trouble.

I've not been involved in a while, but I have trouble believing that the limiting factor for adding in testing for a few inits is available work-hours. Maintainers/packagers' time is far more flexible than that.

I would buy that very few enjoy pain, and the discussion of Systemd in Debian was poisonous enough that using one's scarce fungible time revisiting that isn't something many want to do.