[artlogic]

You aren't going to get away from systemd with a Debian or Ubuntu system. Both Debian 8 and Ubuntu 15.04 (and beyond) use systemd. There are very few mainstream Linux distributions that haven't adopted it, Slackware being the notable exception.

[Yetanfou]

You can use sysv-init on Debian if you prefer (as I do). There will still be some systemd-related stuff around, but it won't be running at pid==1.

[groovy2shoes]

Are there any articles or guides or even just instructions for doing that? I've always loved Debian, but I can't stand systemd and its ilk...