brent I mean it's like this. I download a K-package to use, and, typically it will have about 46 extra dep packages--I'm estimating conservatively here. And when there's an update, these 46 packages become 206--again a conservative estimate--deps for a single package, spawning like bunnies. Then even when there's no update at all this 206 blossoms in 343 (conservative estimate again) associated for a single package. Then they begin installing each other and amassing more packages.
I have only been using Solus Plasma as my Linux daily driver for about a month (and was on the August grandkid tour for about 12 days of that time, using Windows), so I don't claim any expertise.
That said, I think that I am beginning to understand the interactions and dependencies of K-pop applications a little bit, and the reason(s) why installing a K-pop app (particularly on a distro other than Plasma) goes nuts with dependencies and libraries, as you report.
The K-pop apps (loosely, those with "K" designations, but by all means not all) are not standalone packages for the most part, but part of a larger package-set that seems closely integrated with the KDE system and Plasma desktop.
I have been looking at this with respect to replacing Kate (a text editor designed for developers, a lot more than I need or want) with KWrite, a simpler text editor. Both are K-pops.
The first step was easy enough -- I located KWrite in the repository and installed. Then came the second step -- removing Kate -- and I quickly found myself deep in the swamp.
Unlike KWrite, Kate is not listed in the repository because Kate is part of a larger development package, kdesdk, and, in addition, shares a common ktexteditor base with KWrite. Given the interrelationships, it doesn't take long to descend into dependency hell, as your experience makes clear.
Kate's dependencies are numerous (kate5-data, kio, ktexteditor-katepart, libc6, libgcc-s1, libkf5bookmarks5, libkf5completion5, libkf5configcore5, libkf5configgui5, libkf5configwidgets5, libkf5coreaddons5, libkf5crash5, libkf5dbusaddons5, libkf5guiaddons5, libkf5i18n5, libkf5iconthemes5, libkf5kiocore5, libkf5kiofilewidgets5, libkf5kiogui5, libkf5kiowidgets5, libkf5newstuff5, libkf5parts5, libkf5plasma5, libkf5service-bin, libkf5service5, libkf5syntaxhighlighting5, libkf5texteditor5, libkf5textwidgets5, libkf5wallet-bin, libkf5wallet5, libkf5widgetsaddons5, libkf5windowsystem5, libkf5xmlgui5, libkuserfeedbackcore1, libkuserfeedbackwidgets1, libqt5concurrent5, libqt5core5a, libqt5dbus5, libqt5gui5 or libqt5gui5-gles, libqt5sql5, libqt5widgets5, libqt5xml5, libstdc++6, plasma-framework, qml-module-org-kde-kquickcontrolsaddons, qml-module-qtquick-layouts, qml-module-qtquick2, sonnet-plugins, darcs, exuberant-ctags, git, khelpcenter, konsole-kpart, mercurial, subversion), and a number of the dependencies listed, in turn, have numerous other dependencies. So I can see, I think, what is behind your comment.
In this, Kate is not alone. I've been looking into other K-pop apps with an eye to removal, and have removed a few (Konversation and KDEConnect, for example) that I will never use. But others, given the dependencies involved, seem to be so deeply embedded that removal would be a great way to blow up the installation.
Take ktexteditor for example (not that I would do it because KWrite depends on it): Removing ktexteditor removes a number of dependencies, including plasma-desktop. I'm not sure what plasma-desktop does (it is described as "KDE's next generation desktop"), but at a surface level it sounds like it might be the whole Kabuna, so I wouldn't touch removing ktexteditor with a ten foot pole unless I had thoroughly researched the question.
@WetGeek said "I routinely install and use KDE software on my Budgie computers, and always have ..." in an earlier comment, which suggests that installing K-pop apps in Budgie might be a trivial process. But at this stage of the game, I'm a bit dubious, because it seems to me that at least some of the K-pop apps drag along much of the KDE wagon into Budgie, which is a Gnome-based desktop.
But, and this is an important but, I'm just at the beginning of understanding Plasma. For all practical intents and purposes, I'm a Plasma noob. Until a few weeks ago, I'd never used Plasma outside a cursory look in a VM environment, and I expect that it will take at least six months to get a halfway decent understanding of how it works, what I can do and what I can't do. Meanwhile, I am being very, very cautious, more-or-less sticking with OTB Solus Plasma, making changes only when I know where my foot will land. I've given up on even thinking about removing Kate, for example. Kate can sit in the app launcher, never asked to dance, as far as I am concerned.
