I'm not sure that this is easier. I was already removing other packages for programs I don't use in the default setup. Removing them saved space (not much, but some) for programs I do use. Most users who've figured out the utility of apt-get aren't going to run into problems with this. A newbie, maybe...but I doubt that they're gonna be using the command line for anything. Heck, most have no idea what it is.

You'd still get updates. You just won't get that package updated because it's not on your system anymore. The packages that it depended on that you still have installed should still be detected and then updated as well. I've never run into a debian system that worked otherwise (and I used them for years).

Keeping a repository like this enabled is the problem. Not a dist-upgrade. It should only be enabled for a specific application install (if used at all). Besides, I'd expect that people using this repository would know how to prevent this problem. I've yet to break my device with this command. Anyways, most of the programs that do this are going to uninstall this osso-software-version anyway (as in the case of this user).

While I understand you point of view, I still think my recommendations are quite valid.