KDE/kubuntu confusion

[raysa]

I'm confused between the terms KDE and kubuntu. Are they just different terms for the same thing?
I installed KDE plasma from the software centre (and so far really like it) - does this mean I am using kubuntu, or is that something different?
Thanks.

[zombifier25]

KDE is a desktop environment. Kubuntu a Linux distro that uses it.
Kubuntu is merely Ubuntu packed with KDE packages by default. So, in some ways, you are using Kubuntu :lolflag:

[Zorael]

Kubuntu or Ubuntu+KDE; Ay, there's the rub.

For the sake of the argument, let's call the repositories Canonical and the main distro itself Ubuntu. (Currently they are not distinguished and go by the same name.)

Ubuntu is a preset template of packages from the Canonical repos, as are Kubuntu, Xubuntu and some others. They are bundles of cherry-picked packages, including some packages intimately part of the flavour itself, such as branding (plymouth-text-ubuntu) and default settings (kubuntu-default-settings). Then there are other related distros like Mint which are based on the Canonical repos but also provide extra packages not available from there. These are/were called remixes, at least a while back when the ubuntu-netbook-remix live image included content that weren't packaged on the repos, so at that point you couldn't easily convert an existing desktop installation into an ubuntu-netbook one. In the case of Mint, if memory serves they have an additional repo that hosts the Mint-specific bits alongside the Canonical ones.

You could make the argument that as soon as you install or remove a single package, you deviate from your Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/*buntu template and now run a custom homemade distro based on the Canonical repositories. With the current naming scheme, some argue that you run Ubuntu up to the point where you install kubuntu-default-settings and the branding changes.

Maybe everything is Ubuntu and flavours are only something superficial and unimportant. Granted, that would certainly be the case IF the Canonical linux project was called Ubuntu (as it is) and their official distro were called Gubuntu, or maybe Unity. Compare this to Chromium and Chrome; the software project is called Chromium and have several implementations, including the official Chrome. Set theory; Chrome implies Chromium, but Chromium doesn't imply Chrome.

I'd like to say that you run whatever flavour you'd like to associate your installation with the most (within reason), be it Kubuntu or Ubuntu+KDE or Timelord or whatever. I install Kubuntu, but then I remove a bunch of KDE and terminal applications, install Chromium, add PPAs, etc; so I'm certainly not running the software suite that is Kubuntu, but it's close enough that I like to think myself as in their camp.

Rebranding to distinguish the repos from the Ubuntu desktop distro would certainly help lessen the confusion.