Disclaimer: I don't use Debian, so I don't have a horse in this race.
> I would be pissed if a FreeBSD package was some non-standard configuration.
I'm of two minds here.
On one hand, I agree that I would like packages to be packaged as similar to upstream as possible (even if this has also caused annoying changes during upgrades).
On the other hand, I appreciate when package maintainers remove things like enabled-by-default telemetry (which is a whole another topic of its own).
Of course for both cases one should at least skim over the post-installation messages, or whatever they're called. To look for deprecation notices, additional instructions, messages like "if you need X feature please install such package", etc.
So if I don't read these messages, which appear right at the end of the install/upgrade process (can't miss them), that's my fault. If I don't do a zpool checkpoint before upgrading, that's my fault. If I don't verify important or major stuff (like my password manager, web browser, rebooting to ensure graphics drivers still work, etc) after the upgrade and before deleting the zpool checkpoint, that's my fault. If I didn't at least skim the list of package that were going to be upgraded, that's my fault. If I didn't backup my zfs mirror to a separate, plugged out drive before doing a major FreeBSD version upgrade, and the upgrade goes wrong, and I don't have any way to restore the pool to how it was before the upgrade, oh you better believe that's my fault.
(EDIT: Sorry for the long paddlin' reference but the TL;DR is that, if something breaks, half of the responsibility lies on the user.)
Changing topic back to TFA and Debian.
Whether or not the Debian maintainer followed proper procedure for such a change, is a good question because there's not only the maintainer, but also Debian itself.
So I'm kinda waiting to see if there's any response from someone higher up the Debian chain of command; if they (whoever writes the "Debian maintainer rules") consider this acceptable for a maintainer to do, or if they will issue a warning saying this was something not acceptable and "might lead to losing maintainer status if it repeats in the future".
I would be pissed if a FreeBSD package was some non-standard configuration.