* It is going to be a pain to maintain and hard to use for users.
The alternatives system was designed/built/implemented to address these issues. It's when this system is NOT used that multiple package versions become a pain to maintain and hard to use for users.
If you've a better idea or a problem with the alternatives system you should open a bug against that package. Otherwise it looks like this is the best approach and no attempt is made to make improvements.
* It is going to be a pain to maintain and hard to use for users.
The alternatives system was designed/ built/implement ed to address these issues. It's when this system is NOT used that multiple package versions become a pain to maintain and hard to use for users.
If you've a better idea or a problem with the alternatives system you should open a bug against that package. Otherwise it looks like this is the best approach and no attempt is made to make improvements.