Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> +    (let ((package-alist                 ;see bug#65475
>>             (let ((pkgs (assq name package-alist)))
> [...]
>> +             (set-default-toplevel-value 'package-alist package-alist)
> [...]
>
> Eww!!
>
> If we really can't find a better option, we need to add a bunch of
> comments explaining why we ended up with such a hack.

It seems that it is only necessary to bind `package-alist' during the
invocation of `package--used-elsewhere-p', so this is a more
conservative proposal: