macOS and iOS too — syscalls aren’t stable at all, you’re expected to link through shared library interfaces.
NTDLL APIs are very stable[0] and you can even compile and run x86 programs targeting NT 3.1 Build 340[1] which will still work on win11.
[0] as long as you don't use APIs they decided to add and remove in a very short period (longer read: https://virtuallyfun.com/2009/09/28/microsoft-fortran-powers...)
Re:Win32 is the stable Linux ABI
by MangoToupe on Thursday January 01, 2026 @08:07AM
(#46453802)
> No
...and you go on to not disagree with me at all? Why comment then?
I argue that NT doesn't break its kernel ABI.