Pros and Cons

• One major advantage of a shared library is that it saves space on the system.
• A related advantage to shared libraries is that users can upgrade the libraries without upgrading all the programs that depend on them.
• If you're developing mission-critical software, you might rather link to a static archive so that an upgrade to shared libraries on the system won't affect your program.
• If you're not going to be able to install your libraries in /lib or /usr/lib.