Linux.com

Quite a few distributions actually offer "split" packages of major kde components/programs. For example, gentoo (which I use) offers both the "standard" big metas (eg. kdebase, kdenetwork, kdepim etc.) and an "alternative" collection of split single-app ebuilds (eg. konqueror, kmail, kopete etc.) and planning to gradually phase-out the old big-metas. However, going down to the level you suggest where every single applet and tiny utility is a seperate package will break all hell open for developers and users alike. Not everybody knows every useful bit of their KDE environment by name (not even myself despite my 8-year long experience with linux systems). Furthermore, while a source-based distro like gentoo might be pretty safe from lib-version chaos, I can't even imagine the desperation of binary distros' "packagers" having to build something like 1000 packages each time they want to push downstream ASAP a library update for security reasons.

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