Jerry,
You're stuck on this point but it's simply not true. It's not the kernel.
The issue here is the API level used to build the app. That's it. It's the
API level. When the Play Store says that an app is not compatible with the
version of Android on your phone, it's the API version shipped with that
version of Android and how far back it supports, as well as the minimum API
version the application was built to require Nothing more, nothing less.
Has zero to do with the kernel. The play store has no idea what kernel your
phone is running.
I posted the page with the proof (compatibility levels for each Android
release). For the record, I've been an android developer, kernel hacker,
and reverse engineer for over ten years. XKCD "Recognized Developer" for my
contributions to the rooting community.
The same thing is true for Apple applications. I build TQSL software for
MacOS, with OSX 10.10 as the minimum allowed API version. If you're running
anything 10.10 or later, it'll work fine - which means several different
kernel versions from 10.10 to 15.2 - but if you try to use 10.9 it'll fail
as the userland libraries don't have the API interfaces that the
application needs. 10.10 came out in 2014, so Apple has maintained
kernel compatibility for 10 years.)
As Tim said, the kernel changes but remains largely backward compatible.
The userland libraries do not.
And finally, Windows - same issue, but much more tedious due to DLL Hell.
The same application works from Windows XP to Windows 11 without changes
(That's what, 23 years of kernel updates and no compatibility issues.) .The
kernel doesn't matter.
-Rick
On Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 7:21 PM Jerry Stuckle via groups.io <ai0k=
ai0k.net@groups.io> wrote:
Well, first of all, Linux is only one OS out there, so it is not really
a great reference. There are many other OS's out there, several of
which I've worked on, from embedded systems to mainframes.
But I never said an update to libc forced a kernel update. In fact,
just the opposite. The kernel is the lowest level and everything must
interface to it. And while developers do their best to maintain
compatibility, it's not always possible. This is why sometimes an
application requires a certain library version.
If what you are saying is true, why is it I (at the latest kernel level)
can't install it but other can?
73,
Jerry, AI0K
--
Rick Murphy, D. Sc., CISSP-ISSAP, K1MU/4, Annandale VA USA
