Post #3783422
2026-07-05 15:29 UTC
Linux has a fundamental problem with native builds of closed source applications.
This is lack of true retro compatibility.
On windows you can still run software made for windows XP with more or less issues. But windows api are more stable and it does have retro compatibility tools built in.
Linux does not, once in a while the OS APIs change, and any software not patched for those changes might stop working completely.
I have been thinking for a while. That it would be great if some sort of “linux retro compatibility” tool existed.
Similar to launching a program in windows with “window 7 compatibility” to be able to launch linux apps woth “Kernel 4 compatibility” or something like that.
Replies (2)
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@forestbeasts@pawb.social 2026-07-06 04:47
The Steam Linux Runtime is basically this! It’s a bunch of fixed versions of OS libraries that games can use. The kernel itself actually needs nothing special, because the kernel devs are VERY serious about backwards compatibility. One of their core rules is “you do NOT break userspace”. Library devs… not so much. – Frost
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@Flipper@feddit.org 2026-07-06 05:08
One thing Torvalds enforces is not breaking userland. So it shouldn’t be kernel problems. More likely its some other lib that breaks compatibility.