Linux has stable userland ABI. I managed to run a gui binary from Slackware 12 (from 2007) in a chroot and it worked completely fine. It didn't have modern theming or HiDPI support but it worked fine.
Windows apps running via wine and old linux apps running via chroot or any other container (AppImage, snap or Flatpak) all work.
The problem is not having specific (major) versions of old libraries in the new OS. If you manage to install them, they will work - this is difficult in most distributions.
Windows apps running via wine and old linux apps running via chroot or any other container (AppImage, snap or Flatpak) all work.
The problem is not having specific (major) versions of old libraries in the new OS. If you manage to install them, they will work - this is difficult in most distributions.