How many years of forward compatibility can be expected?

[Emily511511]

If an appimage is properly packaged without taking an unrealistic amount of space, how many years of forward compatibility can be expected for abandonware closed source software packaged in an appimage on all major distros?

[probonopd]

Hi @Emily511511, great question!

If you would like to maximize forward compatibility, then you should make sure to use a static AppImage runtime, and bundle all dependencies, down to and including glibc, in your AppImage (something e.g., go-appimage appimagetool -s deploy can help doing). This way, the AppImage should work until the kernel ABI interface breaks (very, very unlikely as long as Linus steers the kernel), or future versions of fusermount become incompatible, at which point in time you'd need to repackage the contents of the AppImage (a very straightforward process).

So, how long? Nobody knows for sure. But a few decades should hopefully be possible. And if you archive a Linux Live ISO alongside it to be run in a future emulator, a few hundred years should hopefully be realistic.

I am happy with helping you with this exciting project.

[Emily511511]

Hey @probonopd

Thank you a lot for your answer, it was very helpful 🙂.

It's nice to know that you are willing, but I don't plan on building an appimage yet 😅

But still, thanks for your reply!