I am using Mandrake/Mandriva for 10 years and don't remember any problems with dependencies. Note: that means that I really don't remember. Maybe there were some but minor and unimportant. Main(?) difference in attitude is that rps is much easier than deb and allows for preparation of sloppy packages. In earlier years where LSB wasn't clearly defined it lead to some issues but today it isn't really a problem. Plus developers could always be careful and prepare rock solid web of dependencies for their distro.