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> Flux. And while all that is constantly changing, its still possible to compile very old user space software and run it in on a current kernel.
by chme 10y ago
> Flux.
And while all that is constantly changing, its still possible to compile very old user space software and run it in on a current kernel.
- majewsky 10y agoWell yeah, most of the libc API is older than Linux.
- ekidd 10y agoThe Linux libc API changed a couple of times in the 1990s (a.out → ELF, libc5 → libc6, etc), but the Linux kernel ABI (what libc uses to talk to the kernel) has been stable since practically the beginning. Linus detests breaking anything that talks to the kernel and considers it massively unprofessional, to the point that even a terrible API will be set in stone if anything uses it.
- IshKebab 10y agoYeah but is it possible to run very old binaries on a current kernel? Unlikely. What about binaries compiled on a newer system than your own? Even less likely.
- Annatar 10y agoWhat about drivers? On SunOS, I can install a driver built on SunOS 5.5.1 (Solaris 2.5.1) on the latest illumos or Solaris-based OS, without recompilation, thanks to the device driver interface / device driver kit ("DDI / DDK"). Solaris 2.5.1 came out in 1993; illumos came out, well, today (multiple commits every day). Is the same possible on GNU/Linux?