The state of binary compatibility on Linux and how to address it

I don't understand why they don't just statically link their binaries. First, they said this:

> Even if you managed to statically link GLIBC—or used an alternative like musl—your application would be unable to load any dynamic libraries at runtime.

But then they immediately said they actually statically link all of their deps aside from libc.

> Instead, we take a different approach: statically linking everything we can.

If they're statically linking everything other than libc, then using musl or statically linking glibc will finish the job. Unless they have some need for loading share libs at runtime which they didn't already have linked into their binary (i.e. manual dlopen), this solves the portability problem on Linux.

What am I missing (assuming I know of the security implications of statically linked binaries -- which they didn't mention as a concern)?

musl and glibc static links are their own Pandora’s box of pain and suffering. They don’t “just work” like you’d hope and dream.

This blows my mind, that in 2025 we still struggle with a simple task such as "read in a string, parse it, and query a cascade of resolvers to discover it's IP". I just can't fathom how that is a difficult problem, or why DNS still is notorious for causing so much pain and suffering. Compared to the advancements in hardware and graphics and so many other areas.