> Additionally, stability and backwards compatibility was assumed. So if the distro updated to Library X v1.2, and your app relied on v1.1, everything would sti

> Additionally, stability and backwards compatibility was assumed. So if the distro updated to Library X v1.2, and your app relied on v1.1, everything would still work. I thought all the cool kids had adopted `semver` these days, so this shouldn't be a problem? Except for crappy libraries/dependencies, in which case surely the answer is: Don't use crappy dependencies; find an alternative that does the same thing, without sucking. > Additionally, developers can't be sure of stability in their dependencies. Again, be more judicious in which dependencies you use. Stay away from the crap ones, find ones that do the right thing. > Disk space is cheap and plentiful and downloading a couple of GB takes an instant. Maybe for you. But not for everyone on the planet. Or, maybe people who live in places with intermittent internet connectivity don't deserve new software, or for their needs to be considered? > So why not bundle everything together? Security. If a serious vulnerability is found in Library X v1.1, I want to be able to upgrade it to Library X v1.1.1 and know that every single app that uses it is safe, without even needing to know which apps use it. I don't want to have to figure out which apps use it (which, OK, might not be too hard if the tools are written to find that out), and then have to download an update for every single one. Even if I do have unlimited gigabit broadband, that could still be awkward if the library is sufficiently popular and widely used.