[...] In practice, what this means is:
2. Creating and using binary packages is awkward at best because there
is no way to upgrade a binary package safely because any new version
(even a bump of just the least significant version number) can break
ABI compatibility.
In the context of the 22 releases of CODAC Core System, ITER has distributed EPICS as binary packages for 10 years to users in over 60 organizations worldwide, where it was installed on several hundred machines, for development and production use.
There was not a single situation (that I know of) being awkward for any of our users because EPICS Base does not promise ABI compatibility between versions.
Are we living in the same universe?
Cheers,
~Ralph