Losses at Mandriva

...which, as I mentioned, are generally...not good. Anyway, as I said, it's still too glib an answer. Different distributions package things differently; that's the basic raison d'etre of distributions. Then each distribution has a user base who supports that distribution's way of doing things.

To take another example. Say an app has an optional dependency on a certain library. On the one hand, if you build against that library, you get a cool feature - but if you don't, you save the requirement.

A 'lean' distribution will want to not build against the library. A 'full fat' distribution will want to build against it. How do you reconcile that in the One True Package? You can't.

That's just another tiny example. The fundamental point is, multiple distributions exist because there are multiple valid perspectives on the best way to do things, which can't be adequately addressed in One True Package Set that everyone uses.