I would heartily disagree, as a guy that runs the code.
One of the benefits of these statically compiled binaries is that they are not coupled to each other. Everything doesn't have to be upgraded at the very same time.
There's good coupling and there's bad coupling, and a semi-famous quote about learning the wrong lesson.
"If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat won't sit on a hot stove again. That cat won't sit on a cold stove either."
It sounds like you've been burned by bad coupling. Sure, upgrading one thing and having something else break sucks. However, having to upgrade a hundred things because that one thing that's statically linked into all of them (like your SSL library) had a bug also sucks. It's like Scylla and Charybdis. They're both bad, but it is possible to steer between them.
The dual nature of this problem was recognized decades ago. It's why we came up with things like API versions and even the symbol versioning that you probably don't realize is already supported by your system's loader. Responsible developers can use these things to make sure that compatible fixes take effect where they need to without relinking, while incompatible changes affect only new code compiled and linked with the new header files etc. That's good coupling - the kind that reduces risk and total work.
Unfortunately, responsible developers are in short supply. Worse, faced with a plethora of irresponsible developers who don't know how to make a change without breaking stuff, a lot of people are reaching for the ugly workaround - static linking, including the kind that's disguised as containers - instead of solutions that will last. They've veered away from Scylla, right into Charybdis's maw. I made that mistake once myself once - perhaps more than once - until I realized I was getting just as burned by the "solution" as I was by the original problem. I suppose more people will have to go through that same process before the situation really improves.
> Responsible developers can use these things to make sure that compatible fixes take effect where they need to without relinking, while incompatible changes affect only new code compiled and linked with the new header files etc. That's good coupling - the kind that reduces risk and total work.
I admit I do not know very much about this. Thanks for sharing! I admit I'm definitely not the most competent developer but I try.
One of the benefits of these statically compiled binaries is that they are not coupled to each other. Everything doesn't have to be upgraded at the very same time.