They didn't "gut what upstream built". He published it without plugins and made a -full version that include plugins. If plugins are plugged in as default it isn't a plugin but a built-in feature. This is the correct way.
EDIT: link to a KeeppassXC maintainer explaining that they're not plugins: https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/issues/10725#iss...
Hopefully this will get fixed
Like sure there is breakage, if you don't read the news before upgrading major versions.
This is false, or at the very least misleading. It doesn't take much to go on the repository and give a closer look instead of repeating "what other said". Kwpolska already wrote it in this thread, -DWITH_XC_ALL (the flag that's been turned OFF in the original Debian package rules) is explicitly called in the build instructions, and not only there but also one release tool [1] and snap config [2]. This is merely how the project manages its build configuration, with specific flags turned off and one master toggle enabled by default (or expected to be passed to cmake/bash release tool). Same thing for the ppa packaging. [3]
0. https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/blob/develop/INS...
1. https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/blob/da90319d2d0...
2. https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc/blob/da90319d2d0...
3. https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc-packaging/blob/9...