> Maybe one good case where DLL/.so/.dylib shine (if only golang... :) )
Possibly, but it's mostly only useful if you can't recompile the app (i.e. don't have source).
And in that case, you've probably paid money for it, and want support. Which you won't get if you've swapped out a component for one it wasn't tested with.
[But I agree with your general point. DLL search path/LD_LIBRARY_PATH can be a useful 'speed hack' to drop in a different lib with an identical API and minor tweaks. e.g. overload malloc/free/realloc() in some misbehaving app to trace a problem without recompiling.]
Possibly, but it's mostly only useful if you can't recompile the app (i.e. don't have source).
And in that case, you've probably paid money for it, and want support. Which you won't get if you've swapped out a component for one it wasn't tested with.
[But I agree with your general point. DLL search path/LD_LIBRARY_PATH can be a useful 'speed hack' to drop in a different lib with an identical API and minor tweaks. e.g. overload malloc/free/realloc() in some misbehaving app to trace a problem without recompiling.]