Comment 5 for bug 1183179

Debian packages have a Breaks: entry, and it was recently used in the SBCL package to warn users that SBCL broke ASDF 3.1.4 and earlier, so this created a conflict that users were warned of if they tried to upgrade. So there is a precedent in a :breaks entry. Software authors do not have to know all the clients they break, but when they know or learn of the incompatibilities, it's nice of them to declare them. And if the client is not updated in a timely fashion or at all (as oftens fails to happen), it's good to warn users that their software is going to be broken if they continue.

Granted, debian also have the ability to declare maximum versions that a package is compatible with. So yes, it's sometimes OK as a temporary non-fix to at least tell your users that they can't update some dependency yet. But either
1- you intend to update your code to use the latest version of the dependency some day, just not now, and it's just a temporary crock, or
2- you don't intend to update your code to use this new versions of this library anymore, and you're effectively forking the library from the old version you like, and never ever again will you be compatible; so the nice thing to do is to rename your library so it has a different name, because the authors and "owners" of the name have made choices you disapprove and won't support.