There is an effort right now to produce a Devuan based OS that uses Maemo libraries (hildon and things for example) and can be run on various bits of hardware (with both the N900 and Neo900 being suggested as targets)

The idea of moving to a new OS base with modern kernel and libraries (ones that get fixes for any security flaws they may contain) is a good one but the way its being done by that team doesn't make sense.

I see the software stack for the N900 and Neo900 containing the following things going forward:
1.Replacements for old Maemo Fremantle packages taken from Devuan or elsewhere that are modern, up-to-date and still maintained and which are ABI compatible with Maemo
Fremantle/support the hardware we have in the N(eo)900 (or can be modified to be ABI compatible and support the hardware we have without a lot of work). So, newer kernel, newer libraries, things like that.

2.Replacements for Maemo packages that aren't a direct replacement but still do the same job. So, newer browser that isn't a direct clone of microb but still does what a browser for the N(eo)900 needs to do, new WiFi stack based on wpa_supplicant that replaces the old Maemo stack, things like that.

3.Existing maemo-specific FOSS packages (be they originally FOSS or be they cloned by someone) that are maintained and fixed (including security issues) going forward (this may include porting such packages to newer versions of various libraries). So, hildon stuff, status bar widgets, control panels, hardware daemons, things like that.

4.Older versions of FOSS libs that we need to keep around to keep existing binaries running. So, older openssl that we need for certain binaries, old browser engine that we might need for rtcom-mesasging-ui or nokia-maps, things like that.

5.Binary packages distributed by Nokia as part of Maemo Fremantle (where cloning those packages or otherwise replacing them just isn't an option or where we want that functionality in the short term but plan to replace it completly in the long term). So, cellular services daemon on N900, dialer app, messaging app, nokia maps, things like that.

and 6.Packages distributed by 3rd parties be they FOSS or otherwise that we want to be able to install and run as-is without needing to change them. So, things in extras-*, things on Garage, things on the forums, things like that.