Is Linux binary compatibility good enough to share binaries between distributions?
There are some problems in this area generally (not just with Zero Install). The Autopackage project is working on these issues; see their FAQ for a detailed look at the problems faced. However, we have binaries for ROX-Filer and many other programs that work on all distributions, so it’s certainly possible. Zero Install can help you create more compatible binaries by compiling against older versions of header files; see Easy GTK binary compatibility for an example.