Linux kernel on its own doesn't run software.
Linux runs /sbin/init.
Which you can make any executable you want.
Not to mention initial RAMdisk (loaded by a bootloader like grub) which can be of arbitrary size & loaded up with an arbitrary ton of goodness.
But as you state: it's the OS-level ABI's (C library, desktop environments, middleware libraries, etc) that keep changing constantly. And thus, keep breaking pre-compiled binaries.
Source-level API vs. binary ABI stability. Kind of a philosophical debate imho. But sadly, even that source-level API isn't too stable in some circles.
Not a kernel booting directly into an application doing straight syscalls.
Somehow, it feels like you don't actually care about the point I was making as much as putting me down. I misspoke...barely, yet you're so fixated on pointing it out in the most unhelpful manner. You keep replying so why not try using more than one sentence next time?
Which is weird considering the argument you had with others above about how "Linux (kernel) doesn't run software", was it a buildup to convince us that "GNU(glibc)/Linux" is really bad at running old binaries? Because your argument doesn't hold for the Linux kernel itself running statically linked binaries.
Last time I checked, hardly anyone uses their computer as an embedded board.
Also, is this a trick question about binaries that weren't patched for y2k or something?