Yes, or they could've been added to '/etc/elive/packages_to_maintain_installed', I think. I forgot to add them, alas.
3.8.30 does have 'printer-driver-brlaser' already installed which has my DCP-1510 working OTOB but for the scanner functions requires additional 'brscan4' installation.
Hence my thought about doing a 'apt list --installed>pack-list-old.txt' on the existing system and comparing that to what's going to be installed. 
I did that to check out with 'meld' to find out if there were other packages that were downgraded like 'thunderbird' or 'firefox'.
Ultimately, it turned out they were the only 2 packages that got a lower version.
