As mentioned I did the kde-monolithic to kde-split update within the aufs-based chroot. Everything built fine, I merged the packages directory and the /etc/portage directory into the root tree and did the update with usepkg in the root.

What I *should* have done is try running from the chroot first. I would have noticed the missing kde-start package and been able to merge it in before doing the update. Oh well, no harm done, but it did mean I was without a working laptop for a few minutes. Luckily I wasn't using it at the time.

Other than that, just been working on customer code and wedding arrangements.