Binary compatibility on Linux

[1100110]

On Sun, 11 Nov 2012 04:45:48 -0600, Jacob Carlborg <doob at me.com> wrote:

> On 2012-11-10 20:10, 1100110 wrote:
>
>> Oldest system to reasonably support?  I would say Debian Stable.
>> It is used on a lot of server systems and isn't *too* far behind/old.
>
> How compatible is Debian with non-debian based distributions?
>

I've used alien a fair number of times, and its usually "just worked."
Here is an FAQ:  
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-compat.en.html
That link provides a lot of info.

Honestly, unless Ubuntu has done something really weird, Debian should be  
just as compatible with non-Debian distros as Ubuntu is.  Give me a solid  
example of what you mean and I'll take a closer look.

Ubuntu has a Debian-for-Ubuntu-Devs page.  
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Debian/ForUbuntuDevelopers
That should explain something at least.

How does Debian Stable compare to Ubuntu 8.04(Hardy Heron) LTS which loses  
support in April?
I'm not entirely sure.  http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/   
http://packages.debian.org/stable/