The interesting contrast here is how things are done on Windows.
The reason most C++ programs ran on all Windows computers (and with such a tiny file size) is Windows shipped with the common libraries (C++ runtime) required to run the programs.
When Borland came out with Delphi they wanted Microsoft to include some of their own common libraries to reduce the footprint of the executable -- but Microsoft said no, meaning Delphi's executables had to have everything linked into it statically, resulting in files that were an order of magnitude bigger. Aside from the stigma from larger file sizes in an era (the 90s) when this mattered, they arguably came out ahead in this department as Delphi by default avoided "DLL hell" (until MS solved it more or less definitively with Windows 2000) and would run anywhere, on anything, with no additional dependencies.
The reason most C++ programs ran on all Windows computers (and with such a tiny file size) is Windows shipped with the common libraries (C++ runtime) required to run the programs.
When Borland came out with Delphi they wanted Microsoft to include some of their own common libraries to reduce the footprint of the executable -- but Microsoft said no, meaning Delphi's executables had to have everything linked into it statically, resulting in files that were an order of magnitude bigger. Aside from the stigma from larger file sizes in an era (the 90s) when this mattered, they arguably came out ahead in this department as Delphi by default avoided "DLL hell" (until MS solved it more or less definitively with Windows 2000) and would run anywhere, on anything, with no additional dependencies.