* Jakob Leben: > Well, there are use cases that are not so simple. For example: I might > deploy Debian 9.1 on an embedded machine sold to a client on the other side > of the world. I have a system for updating my own software which is also > deployed on that machine, but not the rest of the Debian system. Now, if > ABI might change between 9.2, then I have no guarantee that if I test my > software update with 9.2, it will be work as expected on the client's > machine with Debian 9.1.
Why do you care about ABI breakage in particular? What about regressions in functionality? Practically speaking, you will have to run your own testing (probably focusing on functionality). ABI testing is rather hard, and while there are quite a few tools for it, interpreting the results still needs expert knowledge. Sometimes we waive test failures, believing they do not matter, when it fact they do. Only testing will find out.
