Because bundling DLL in your installer is not hard? Because most non-toy program will have DLL of their own anyway that will need installing? As for the origin

Because bundling DLL in your installer is not hard? Because most non-toy program will have DLL of their own anyway that will need installing? As for the original craziness header, I found it hilariously, but pretty typically, harsh and unfair. Finding the compiler and all is environment is not an easy task in any OS. I've been programming for a looooong time I remember havign to write code that compiled on: IRIX, Solaris, HpUx, IBM unix, Windows and more. Anyone who ever took a look at configure.sh knows the horrors it holds at bay.