The problem with curl-minimal is if you install any program that needs full-fat curl, then you're out of luck if you want to keep the minimal install.

With separate curl handlers you'd also be able to find out what protocols your system is configured to access with a command like this [simulated]:

  $ rpm -qa | grep curl-handler- | sort
  curl-handler-ftp
  curl-handler-http
  curl-handler-https
  curl-handler-smb

and similar RPM commands might be used to find out what applications need a particular protocol.

Yep, but still as a user I'd prefer the simpler way, since it will be more clear what's happening ("ok, curl-minimal is being replaced by the full curl when I install this package"). And there will be fewer little splinter packages.

I wonder if there's a place for an additional level of abstraction here, so that the user would just see something like "subcomponent X of the curl package is being installed"...