ABI compatibility as a resilience strategy

When upstream vendors limit source access, downstream projects can preserve ecosystem compatibility by guaranteeing the same application binary interface (ABI) rather than exact source parity. That lets maintainers diverge strategically — backport deprecated features, offer alternative architectures (x86‑64‑v2, 32‑bit repos), and integrate third‑party drivers — while remaining drop‑in for applications and modules built for the upstream distribution. — This reframes open‑source contestation: the technical choice of ABI vs. source parity is a governance lever with implications for vendor lock‑in, hardware lifecycle, supply‑chain resilience, and digital sovereignty.