PEP 668: Marking Python base environments as "externally managed"

I’m likely missing context, not being a Debian user, but I would freak out when I read this, if I don’t know what’s actually going on:

Practically, this means that you can’t use pip to install packages outside a virtualenv, on a Debian system, any more.

This sounds like Debian is breaking me, and I will have no choice but to either use virtualenv, or switch system entirely. But in fact I still can install packages outside a virtualenv on a Debian system; I just can’t do that against the Python installation(s) Debian provides. I am not sure if (how) this subtle difference can be significant to certain people, but do wonder whether the message can be tweaked to be less absolute.

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