This hasn't been true for many years now. Using a server-based repository along with yum, apt4rpm, etc. RPMs have no more dependency issue than .debs. The only "issue" as such is that they're far more widely used, therefore you can run into problems if you try to use an RPM from one distribution on another. Using .debs don't magically make you immune to this issue though (it's just that .debs have generally only been used by debian-derived distributions, so core library/application names have been consistent).