[gentoo-dev] Segregating KDE?

[Anthony Gorecki]

Gentoo Developers and Users,

After having an "enlightening" chat with #kde several weeks ago regarding 
their (bloated) packaging scheme, it mas made clear that their stance is to 
continue with that method of packaging. While I can understand that their 
packaging scheme may benefit the intended target audience, it unfortunately 
leaves me feeling considerably less than satisfied. 

During the discussion it was mentioned that they consider it the 
responsibility of the individual Linux distribution to separate the software 
applications for distribution (the file hierarchy of the KDE packages 
simplifies that task) to the community, if it was appropriate for the 
distribution's design philosophy.

If Gentoo is committed to offering users a large degree of customizability, 
wouldn't segregating the various KDE components lend itself to continuing the 
evolution of that flexibility? I would cheer at the ability to type "emerge 
kmail" rather than "emerge kdepim".

I would like to request that any interested parties contribute their opinions 
on this subject. It would be interesting to see how Gentoo users feel about 
the current packaging scheme and what, if anything, could be improved.


-- 
Anthony Gorecki
Ectro-Linux Foundation