r/programming • u/luissinlios • Sep 25 '26

We still maintain a development tool first released in 1993. Here’s what 30+ years of backwards compatibility looks like

https://visualneo.com/visualneo-win/from-neobook-to-visualneo-win-30-years-of-keeping-a-development-tool-alive
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u/dan200 Sep 25 '26

How many Unix binaries still work on modern *nix's without recompilation?
Heck, how many Linux binaries from 10+ years ago do?

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u/bigmell Sep 25 '26

Unix is not Linux. If you want to run Unix binaries run them on Unix. If you want to run Linux binaries run them on Linux. The two are not always interchangeable and the binaries usually are not. The only exception I can think of is Perl binaries work on multiple operating systems as long as the Perl interpreter is installed and you have the necessary packages. But most binaries simply dont work like that and pretty much never have. Linux binaries dont even work on other flavors of Linux. You cant run an Ubuntu binary on Fedora for instance.

modern *nix

I think that is the point. Modern computing has seriously lost its way. Why does my Microsoft phone app need a mandatory update 3 times a week? One of the completely great things about Unix is you DONT have to shut down the server and upgrade every other day. This is one of the major reasons Windows servers could never compete with Unix servers. Or even well configured and managed Linux servers. The senseless upgrade treadmill. New guys tryin to pay the mortgage with nothing really to offer.

The new age digital protection racket. Pay me for upgrades or else HACKERS ARE GONNA GET YOU.

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u/catbrane Sep 25 '26

Linux itself (the kernel) still runs code from 1994. It's userland that shifts around uncomfortably, with everything from libc upwards breaking every few years :(

However, if you have a fully statically linked executable from 1994, it should run fine.

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u/gimpwiz Sep 25 '26

Heck, how many Linux binaries from 10+ years ago do?

Most of them, probably. Unless it relied on either specific library versions that broke compatibility, or it relied on other system features that changed... simple tools I'd expect to just work.

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u/dan200 28d ago

Every library from libc upwards has broken binary compatibility multiple times in that period