No, I used to patch bash scripts, patch the deb package, deploy to prod, then have to do it all over again when the init script changed upstream in the distribution. Now I just have my configuration management change the options I need in the unit file and never touch it again, so now I sleep while unattended-upgrades works for me.

If something critical launched by your init system isnt coming up, I'd way way rather be using systemd. There's know wwys to inspect, check out what ran, what didnt, see what dependencies are failing. Check the common logging system. In the dark old days it was a nightmare of different daemons, each with their own custom init scripts, & little common reporting. Every problem was unique & required unique diagnosis.

I dont get what the complaints are. Things work great now. There's great diagnostic tools. Most of them with json/machine readible output. Distros sometimes do break various daemons but systemd and pulseaudio are pretty much bulletproof, and if they worked yesterday, i absolutely have faoth they'll work today. I detest so much that this kind of casual easy convenient Fear Uncertainty g Doubt shade throwing persists, that we so casually malign while making no assertions that could be refuted. There's a spectre of doubt that sabotages the good, that seeds disbelief, and it's never justified, never backed up by anything concrete or real or debateable: it's all just this haunting image that it's not going to work. It's seditious.

Also, I could not do anything with a bug inside firefox, the kernel and a litany of other complex programs (mind that they are complex due to essential complexity) so I don’t see system booting an exception to that.