The difference in the kernel doesn't really matter - just the userspace 
libraries.  I've been in the (non-enviable) position of supporting the same 
binary distribution on 2.2, 2.4, and 2.6 kernels (only the kernel changed).

LSB only addresses standard libraries - if your Ubuntu /usr/bin/foo relies 
on /usr/lib/libbar.so.6, and another distro you attempt to run the program on 
only has /usr/lib/libbar.so.5 (or no libbar), it won't work.  Given that 
there are so many dependencies and they change very quickly, it's more luck 
(or trial and error) that it works.

-Dave

On Tuesday 18 December 2007 09:28:37 pm Mike Miller wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Dec 2007, Brock Noland wrote:
> > "If they have the same kernels and the same libraries in the same
> > locations, why does it matter which one you are using?"
> >
> > They don't have the same kernels and same libraries.
>
> Oh.  Good answer.  To what degree do the kernels differ?  I thought a
> Linux team made the kernel and the distros all used the same kernel but
> perhaps different versions.  Do the different kernels prevent binaries
> from one distro from functioning properly on another distro?
>
> Regarding libraries:  I thought the point of LSB was mostly to get the
> libraries to be the same, or at least fully compatible.  What's going on
> with that?  Do differences in libraries cause binaries from one distro
> from working on another distro.
>
> Best,
> Mike
>
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