Well, you shouldn't need to maintain - just compile a static linked binary and you should be good for the rest of your system's life.

But more practically - I've been using darktable for well over a decade, and it's remained backward compatible with my old styles. If you like the older modules, they should still be there, and you should still be able to apply your old styles the same as always.

My own problem is that darktable keeps improving, so much so that I want to reprocess all my old photos again :/