> If static linking, the calls into the kernel might have changed or data read f...

pjmlp · on May 15, 2017

I doubt it very much, specially since ELF was not even a thing in 1992 distributions with kernel versions still in the 0.x.y range.

ELF was being slowly introduced in 1994, with Slackware 2.0 being one of the first distributions to support it.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/1059

So I really really doubt you can pick a static executable compiled against kernel 0.x.y, using a.out format and execute it in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as example.

Actually, I just need to take the dust out of my Walnut Creek CD's to prove my point.

4ad · on May 15, 2017

You can run a.out executables on Linux just fine. Not sure if Ubuntu ships with a.out support or not, but that is really irrelevant.

pjmlp · on May 15, 2017

Nice how you avoided the issue of running code targeted for 0.98.1 (latest kernel release in 1992) against kernel 4.4.z.

Not to mention how disparate the file system structure, including device drivers, of something like Yggdrasil Linux 1.0 is compared with modern distributions.

As I said, easily verified by dusting off Walnut Creek CD's and picking a random binary from them.