Well they are not. Yet. It is a deprecation notice and at some point they will break userspace. You're quote is a matter of context. When Linus say never break

Well they are not. Yet. It is a deprecation notice and at some point they will break userspace. You're quote is a matter of context. When Linus say never break userspace, I understand it as : never break userspace without warning and consensus over an alternative. Don't break the userspace to force it to evolve or fix things. Fix it there first and then deprecate. It is not the same thing.