Hmm, I've never had any problems running something on ubuntu, debian, gentoo, redhat, etc. If it works on one then it works on all the others. If push comes to

Hmm, I've never had any problems running something on ubuntu, debian, gentoo, redhat, etc. If it works on one then it works on all the others. If push comes to shove I just install the libraries and compile from source but this is a rare occurence and I've only have had to do that when I've relied on a version of Ruby or Python that has not come pre-packaged with the distribution. So I don't really know what you're getting at. If you're not talking about kernel vs userland and you're talking instead about ABI compatibility then the ABI is even more stable and requires even less work to port any piece of software from one distribution to another.