> If the program dynamically links plug-ins, and they make function calls to each other and share data structures, we believe they form a single program, which must be treated as an extension of both the main program and the plug-ins.
To extend this to archives of independent programs, they would be loosely bound, and therefore not form a single program. A docker container that exists only to package up libraries some executable is using would be closer to a single program than a collection of independent components.
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/167781
> If the program dynamically links plug-ins, and they make function calls to each other and share data structures, we believe they form a single program, which must be treated as an extension of both the main program and the plug-ins.
To extend this to archives of independent programs, they would be loosely bound, and therefore not form a single program. A docker container that exists only to package up libraries some executable is using would be closer to a single program than a collection of independent components.