Comment by zamadatix

I think the only reason RJ45 termination is an (occasional) thing for short patching is you're also in spec to go 100 meters with it so the tools and materials to do so are already commonly in use.

For passive DACs the range of lengths is so low you can just get away with having 2 or 3 different lengths on hand and never need to worry about it. Active DACs start to be too much to bother with again.

Fiber it's possible, but again really only because you can go kilometers with it rather than because people want to make short patch cables themselves.