diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 6a03be350..152bc65de 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -243,8 +243,7 @@ Depends: libnvpair3linux (= ${binary:Version}),
          ${misc:Depends},
          ${shlibs:Depends}
 Recommends: zfs-modules | zfs-dkms, zfs-zed
-Breaks: openrc,
-        spl (<< 0.7.9-2),
+Breaks: spl (<< 0.7.9-2),
         spl-dkms (<< 0.8.0~rc1),
         zfs-dkms (<< ${source:Version}),
         zfs-dkms (>> ${source:Version}...)
diff --git a/debian/patches/0016-etc-init.d-decide-which-variant-to-use-at-build-time.patch b/debian/patches/0016-etc-init.d-decide-which-variant-to-use-at-build-time.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7f0407b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/0016-etc-init.d-decide-which-variant-to-use-at-build-time.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+From: Benda Xu <orv@debian.org>
+Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2024 20:38:19 +0800
+Subject: etc/init.d: decide which variant to use at build time.
+
+Let Debian use the sysv-rc variant of the script, even when OpenRC is
+installed. Unlike on Gentoo, OpenRC on Debian consumes both the
+sysv-rc scripts and OpenRC ones. ZFS initscripts on Debian should be
+the sysv-rc version to provide most compatibility and to integrate
+with the rest of initscripts for dependency tracking.
+
+Restrict the substitution in the Makefile to the dedicated list.
+
+This construct is inspired by Mo Zhou's detection of the execution
+shell and follows the strategy of Peter in 6ef28c526ba7.
+
+Author: Benda Xu <orv@debian.org>
+Forwarded: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/pull/15977
+Reference: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/issues/8063
+Reference: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/issues/8204
+Reference: https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/pull/8359
+---
+ config/Substfiles.am       | 1 +
+ config/zfs-build.m4        | 8 +++++---
+ etc/init.d/zfs-import.in   | 2 +-
+ etc/init.d/zfs-load-key.in | 2 +-
+ etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in    | 2 +-
+ etc/init.d/zfs-share.in    | 3 ++-
+ etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in      | 3 ++-
+ 7 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/config/Substfiles.am b/config/Substfiles.am
+index 38e870b..18422bf 100644
+--- a/config/Substfiles.am
++++ b/config/Substfiles.am
+@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ subst_sed_cmd = \
+ 	-e 's|@ASAN_ENABLED[@]|$(ASAN_ENABLED)|g' \
+ 	-e 's|@DEFAULT_INIT_NFS_SERVER[@]|$(DEFAULT_INIT_NFS_SERVER)|g' \
+ 	-e 's|@DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL[@]|$(DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL)|g' \
++	-e 's|@IS_SYSV_RC[@]|$(IS_SYSV_RC)|g' \
+ 	-e 's|@LIBFETCH_DYNAMIC[@]|$(LIBFETCH_DYNAMIC)|g' \
+ 	-e 's|@LIBFETCH_SONAME[@]|$(LIBFETCH_SONAME)|g' \
+ 	-e 's|@PYTHON[@]|$(PYTHON)|g' \
+diff --git a/config/zfs-build.m4 b/config/zfs-build.m4
+index 5f36569..bb5a85d 100644
+--- a/config/zfs-build.m4
++++ b/config/zfs-build.m4
+@@ -578,13 +578,15 @@ AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_DEFAULT_PACKAGE], [
+ 
+ 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([default shell])
+ 	case "$VENDOR" in
+-		gentoo)     DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL="/sbin/openrc-run";;
+-		alpine)     DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL="/sbin/openrc-run";;
+-		*)          DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL="/bin/sh"         ;;
++		gentoo|alpine)	DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL=/sbin/openrc-run
++				IS_SYSV_RC=false	;;
++		*)		DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL=/bin/sh
++				IS_SYSV_RC=true		;;
+ 	esac
+ 
+ 	AC_MSG_RESULT([$DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL])
+ 	AC_SUBST(DEFAULT_INIT_SHELL)
++	AC_SUBST(IS_SYSV_RC)
+ 
+ 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([default nfs server init script])
+ 	AS_IF([test "$VENDOR" = "debian"],
+diff --git a/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in b/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
+index a9a0604..ff169eb 100755
+--- a/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
++++ b/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
+@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ do_start()
+ 
+ # ----------------------------------------------------
+ 
+-if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]
++if @IS_SYSV_RC@
+ then
+ 	case "$1" in
+ 		start)
+diff --git a/etc/init.d/zfs-load-key.in b/etc/init.d/zfs-load-key.in
+index 53c7766..27dfeeb 100755
+--- a/etc/init.d/zfs-load-key.in
++++ b/etc/init.d/zfs-load-key.in
+@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ do_stop()
+ 
+ # ----------------------------------------------------
+ 
+-if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]
++if @IS_SYSV_RC@
+ then
+ 	case "$1" in
+ 		start)
+diff --git a/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in b/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
+index a0825f1..6a3ca5f 100755
+--- a/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
++++ b/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
+@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ do_stop()
+ 
+ # ----------------------------------------------------
+ 
+-if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]
++if @IS_SYSV_RC@
+ then
+ 	case "$1" in
+ 		start)
+diff --git a/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in b/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
+index 8897807..06c59c6 100755
+--- a/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
++++ b/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
+@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ do_stop()
+ 
+ # ----------------------------------------------------
+ 
+-if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]; then
++if @IS_SYSV_RC@
++then
+ 	case "$1" in
+ 		start)
+ 			do_start
+diff --git a/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in b/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
+index e9cf886..3d40600 100755
+--- a/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
++++ b/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
+@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ do_reload()
+ 
+ # ----------------------------------------------------
+ 
+-if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]; then
++if @IS_SYSV_RC@
++then
+ 	case "$1" in
+ 		start)
+ 			do_start
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 59c3d69eb..a8a376d25 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#unapplied/init-debian-openrc-workaround.patch # OpenRC users can apply this locally
+0016-etc-init.d-decide-which-variant-to-use-at-build-time.patch
 1000-dont-symlink-zed-scripts.patch
 1001-Prevent-manual-builds-in-the-DKMS-source.patch
 1002-Check-for-META-and-DCH-consistency-in-autoconf.patch
diff --git a/debian/patches/unapplied/init-debian-openrc-workaround.patch b/debian/patches/unapplied/init-debian-openrc-workaround.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index e97784673..000000000
--- a/debian/patches/unapplied/init-debian-openrc-workaround.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-Description: Make these scripts work for Debian+OpenRC setup.
-Author: Mo Zhou <lumin@debian.org>
-Last-update: 20181026
-Forward: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/8063
-
-Index: zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
-===================================================================
---- zfs-linux.orig/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
-+++ zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-import.in
-@@ -309,8 +309,7 @@ do_start()
- 
- # ----------------------------------------------------
- 
--if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]
--then
-+if ! (echo @SHELL@ | grep openrc 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null); then
- 	case "$1" in
- 		start)
- 			do_start
-Index: zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
-===================================================================
---- zfs-linux.orig/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
-+++ zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-mount.in
-@@ -199,8 +199,7 @@ do_stop()
- 
- # ----------------------------------------------------
- 
--if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]
--then
-+if ! (echo @SHELL@ | grep openrc 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null); then
- 	case "$1" in
- 		start)
- 			do_start
-Index: zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
-===================================================================
---- zfs-linux.orig/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
-+++ zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-share.in
-@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ do_stop()
- 
- # ----------------------------------------------------
- 
--if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]; then
-+if ! (echo @SHELL@ | grep openrc 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null); then
- 	case "$1" in
- 		start)
- 			do_start
-Index: zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
-===================================================================
---- zfs-linux.orig/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
-+++ zfs-linux/etc/init.d/zfs-zed.in
-@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ do_reload()
- 
- # ----------------------------------------------------
- 
--if [ ! -e /sbin/openrc-run ]; then
-+if ! (echo @SHELL@ | grep openrc 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null); then
- 	case "$1" in
- 		start)
- 			do_start