Are the packages interchangeable "within" Linux branches? Between branches? Where is the dividing line?
For example, within the Fedora branch there are various Desktop Environments, each with their own versions of very similar packages (text editors, terminal, file managers).
My scope of my question is intended to only include the Linux family, while I guess a more interesting question would be if unix is unix is unix 🙂
Bonus points for "where" answer, ie. QT Framework VS. GTK+, or RPM Package Manager as one package format among 8+ for Linux
I can gues the why. No doubt due to "programmer hubris" (^_^)
Best Answer
More often than not you can make it work, eventually.
The question is how much work you want to spend tracking down dependencies and fixing paths; You can even install RPMs from redhat into Debian's dpkg system, but it requires a bit of time to actually get everything set up and working (I've done so before, and there was actually less hairpulling than you'd think, but it's all dependent upon which packages you're trying to install).
The binary files are usually compatible (unless there's some breaking change or customization in the kernel API of the specific branch you're using), and the only real trick to making it work is getting the correct version of the necessary libraries installed and set up so that the binaries can find them. If the branches are close enough together (like Ubuntu and Debian), then I wouldn't even think twice about trying to install a debian .deb into an ubuntu system-- almost always it just works.