>> I am not sure if the issue that Stefan raised,
>> with `sort' in `package--get-activatable-pkg' destructively modifying
>> `package-alist', but if anything that has been an issue before Emacs 29
>> as well.
>
> Евгений says that the call to 'sort' in package--get-activatable-pkg
> didn't exist before commit fb87d500.

That is true, and perhaps that could be reverted to some degree as well.