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> And CMake will take care of transitive dependencies for static libraries for you.

This assumes that everything is correctly expressed as part of the CMake system. If you stick everything in one build system, of course it’s going to be fine.

> Users can replace a .so with a variant that does something you don't expect. For statically linked apps, it is much easier to ensure your code has not been tampered with.

If your users are able to replace libraries, it’s reasonable to assume that they can mess with the code inside your application too. It is generally hard to ensure your code hasn’t been tampered with, unless you’re in control of the hardware.

I think it's more of an accidental or unintentional threat they're talking about than a malicious one.

> "How did things get this bad?" What are you talking about? It's a great time to be a C++ programmer!

I think like most things C++, the modern solutions are great, but a large number of programmers are still stuck with legacy systems that they cannot or will not change for a variety of reasons.

I don't think there is a magic bullet for people experiencing these problems in legacy codebases - it's either update to a more modern build system and use libraries within that ecosystem, or learn how to work around the potential issues outlined in the original article.

Mind you it has been a few years since I have worked in C++ professionally. I understand why you might like it. But in my opinion, it is a dumpster fire.

My friend who is a music producer has a saying: "You can't polish a turd."

With C++ and CMake, this is apt.