[gwu78]

Are you suggesting that the original purpose of shared libraries relates to patching software?

Others seem to be suggesting that the emergence of dynamic linking was a response to general limitations in secondary storage and memory. Limitations that no longer exist.

[icebraining]

Does it have to be the original purpose to be a useful feature?

[gwu78]

Is this supposed to be an answer?

I like marssaxman's comment.

I'm not sure I would call this a "feature" because I think of "features" as being intentional and if marssaxman is correct, this justification for shared library use was an accidental side effect.

But I have limited knowledge of the history behind dynamic linking. Hence my questions. I am just curious.