openSUSE KDE 4 Repositories Explained

Enough ranting, the anger/accusations is misplaced and way over the top.

READ THIS SUMMARY
If all you want is a workable version of KDE, stick with what came with
the distro when you installed it. Everything else can break your system
at any time with no warning because it *will* always be changing.

If you want the latest released version of just the applications (e.g.
amarok, digikam) use just KDE:Backports.

If you want the latest released version (including betas and RCs) of the
KDE Desktop _and_ applications use KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop.
If KDE makes a release when KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop is busy, the KDE
team may choose to create an additional repository (e.g. KDE:42, KDE:43)
in order to package that latest release.
Once KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop is free again, these additional temporary
repositories *will disappear*.
If you decide you absolutely must have the latest version and switch to
the version specific repos, be aware that they will disappear again in a
few months.

* That means if you absolutely must have the latest KDE at all times you
WILL have to change your repositories occasionally, there is no way
around that. Development for the next release, not current users takes
priority in these repositories. To keep up with upstream you have to
switch from KKFD to KDE:{version} and back to KKFD every few months. *
If you want to keep it simple just stick with KKFD until it starts
moving again.

That is all you should need to know. Normally the only available
versions of the KDE desktop you can expect to be available will be
1) The version that was in the last released distro in STABLE
2) The latest released version in FACTORY
3) The bleeding edge in UNSTABLE

Any other repository is temporary and there is no guarantee it will
still be there tomorrow, if you use one of them it is your job to keep
alert of any changes to it. Just stick to the above and you’ll be fine.
If you choose to use the temporary repositories because you *must* have
the latest version please don’t complain about the repository layout,
the alternative is not to provide the extra repositories at all.
END OF SUMMARY

If you must know the details:

The layout for the KDE *desktop* package repositories is:
STABLE (what was released in current openSUSE)
what you’ve already got in 11.2 plus some extra fixes which are
being currently tested e.g. for online update
FACTORY (going into next version of openSUSE)
what is going into the next version of openSUSE and will most likely
be the latest released version from KDE (except very close to a openSUSE
distro release).
UNSTABLE (absolutely bleeding edge straight from KDE trunk, doesn’t even
build half the time)
not for normal users

As you can see, there is not much reason to use STABLE (you’ve already
got it if you are running 11.2) or UNSTABLE (it will eat your children).

As I said above, if KDE has a release when
a) openSUSE Factory is in version freeze in preparation for a distro
release
b) KKFD has already moved on to the next major beta release (e.g. it
is now on KDE4.4 beta/rc)
the KDE team may create a temporary version specific repository (e.g.
KDE:42, KDE:43).

The reason we have these is because people wanted for packages of the
latest released KDE, not because the KDE team is masochistic or sadistic.
Now that FACTORY is moving again (release of 11.2) (and also KDE has
said that there will not be another 4.3.x release) *these repositories
will disappear*. Their purpose was to provide the latest released
version while FACTORY was busy, that reason is gone, there is no more
reason to keep them hanging around.

Meanwhile, applications which are released separately (amarok, digikam)
have their own repositories because they are not related to the KDE
*desktop*.

1) KDE:Backports contains the newest released versions of these apps
built against the base distribution. No KDE upgrade needed to run these.
2) KDE:KDE4:Community contains applications/utilities e.g. from
kde-look.org that people outside the SuSE KDE team package.
3) KDE:KDE4:Playground contains experimental/bleeding edge/unstable
versions of the apps in Community and Backports.

Regards,
Tejas

FWIW, all of this information could have been gotten by a thorough
reading of the wiki pages.
P.S. I suggest that at some point the KDE4: prefix needs to be dropped
from the repository names like it has been from Backports.