I'm on Mandrake 10, using Synaptic for rpm package management on the main mandrake repositories (not cooker). I decided that I'd like to get rid of kdm (which Mandrake uses by default); when I clicked remove (in synaptic), I was informed that k3b have to be removed also. I figured that this was perhaps a minor FUBAR, and went ahead with the removal, and then reselected k3b for installation. This time I was informed that as well as kdebase, kdelibs, etc etc, I would be required to install such obvious non-dependencies as kdm, kate, and so forth.

I don't believe this is a synaptic problem, as I seem to recall the same situation happening in urpmi (although I could be wrong); and I also seem to recall it happening in the DEB hierarchy when I was using Libranet (but again, I could be wrong.)

What's going on with this? Is it a case of the k3b rpm maintainer being slapdash with his dependencies? Is it sylpheed?

I could avoid this by building from source (k3b is the only KDE based program I use), but I really like the modularity that a package built system provides. Any suggestions on what I can do here?

Thanks

Well, I'm torn here.
K3B is a KDE app, so therefore, it could require the kdebase, etc, installed.
However,
I could almost swear I had it on my last Gentoo box.....without all that garbage........
I would try from source.............

I wouldn't mind if it was just the kdebase and kdelibs, but there's no reason it needs kdm (the login manager) or kate (the text editor).

Another reason why building from source (at least on Mandrake) sucks is that I'd miss the automatic upgrades.

I confirmed when I got home from work that urpmi also wants to suck down kdm and kate with k3b. So what's the deal? An rpm flaw, or the rpm for k3b flaw?

Thanks