I personally think it's a complexity management problem and a version management problem. Shared libraries make sense for "timeless" stuff like math or very core system stuff, but beyond that there is too much variation both in version and in approach. Unless your target is a platform as rigidly managed as Apple, you must ship it all or you will get missing shared library errors.

I do think changes in how shared libraries are shipped or managed may help. I've had ideas for ages around using cryptographic hashes but have no time to experiment with such things.