this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I think i disagree. There are definitely breaking changes between distro upgrades, even if they are under the hood changes.
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mantic-minotaur-release-notes/35534
~~For 23.10, glibc changed version, if a user is running a binary that explicitly links against an older version, that binary will not work anymore. I would like to live in a world without these kind of binaries, but they exist, and users do rely on them.~~ edit: not entirely true.
In a future release, Python 2 is going to be removed. There are thousands of python2 only scripts still floating around, the drop of python2 is going to hurt someone.
I think we lie to ourselves a bit about the reliability of upgrades, they are often flawless, but definitely not always. Fixing the issues can be easy for seasoned linux users, so we can tend to fix and forget. (This is not a dig at anyone, I am guilty of this as well)
I see where your coming from, with the desire to avoid overly concerning new users, but I dont think changing the terminology here is the answer.
I would prefer to keep the existing terminology and instead fix the messaging to make it clear that while there may be a risk, it is a minimal risk.
That is not actually true. glibc hasn't changed ABI versions in a backwards incompatible way in a long time. You can't use new binaries on the old system usually but you can absolutely use old ones on the new system.
Many other libraries do change ABI versions more frequently though.
Okay, fair point, thanks for clarifying that. I just know glibc versions have bitten me before :(
It is frequently a problem when running old systems and binaries are compiled for something newer, especially with distros like RHEL that "support" stuff for much longer than most upstream projects are willing to wait to use new features.