diff --git a/api/internal/builtins/PrefixTransformer.go b/api/internal/builtins/PrefixTransformer.go
index ef60d3e7903..03040ce0f9f 100644
--- a/api/internal/builtins/PrefixTransformer.go
+++ b/api/internal/builtins/PrefixTransformer.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ type PrefixTransformerPlugin struct {
 	FieldSpecs types.FsSlice `json:"fieldSpecs,omitempty" yaml:"fieldSpecs,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// TODO: Make this gvk skip list part of the config.
 var prefixFieldSpecsToSkip = types.FsSlice{
 	{Gvk: resid.Gvk{Kind: "CustomResourceDefinition"}},
 	{Gvk: resid.Gvk{Group: "apiregistration.k8s.io", Kind: "APIService"}},
diff --git a/api/internal/builtins/SuffixTransformer.go b/api/internal/builtins/SuffixTransformer.go
index 09a2d697700..2b389d8e55e 100644
--- a/api/internal/builtins/SuffixTransformer.go
+++ b/api/internal/builtins/SuffixTransformer.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ type SuffixTransformerPlugin struct {
 	FieldSpecs types.FsSlice `json:"fieldSpecs,omitempty" yaml:"fieldSpecs,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// TODO: Make this gvk skip list part of the config.
 var suffixFieldSpecsToSkip = types.FsSlice{
 	{Gvk: resid.Gvk{Kind: "CustomResourceDefinition"}},
 	{Gvk: resid.Gvk{Group: "apiregistration.k8s.io", Kind: "APIService"}},
diff --git a/api/krusty/legacy_order_test.go b/api/krusty/legacy_order_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f8b37b11fd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/krusty/legacy_order_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package krusty_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	kusttest_test "sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/testutils/kusttest"
+)
+
+func TestIssue4388(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.MakeHarness(t)
+	th.WriteK(".", `
+resources:
+- resources.yaml
+`)
+	th.WriteF("resources.yaml", `
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing
+data:
+  key: value
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing-one
+data:
+  key: value
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing-two
+data:
+  key: value
+`)
+	opts := th.MakeDefaultOptions()
+	opts.DoLegacyResourceSort = true
+	m := th.Run(".", opts)
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(m, `
+apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  key: value
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  key: value
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing-one
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  key: value
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: testing-two
+`)
+}
diff --git a/api/resmap/idslice.go b/api/resmap/idslice.go
index a13d9d3c943..8c25cbb2a37 100644
--- a/api/resmap/idslice.go
+++ b/api/resmap/idslice.go
@@ -33,5 +33,5 @@ func (a IdSlice) Less(i, j int) bool {
 	if !a[i].Gvk.Equals(a[j].Gvk) {
 		return a[i].Gvk.IsLessThan(a[j].Gvk)
 	}
-	return a[i].String() < a[j].String()
+	return a[i].LegacySortString() < a[j].LegacySortString()
 }
diff --git a/kyaml/resid/gvk.go b/kyaml/resid/gvk.go
index 6279b739ccd..2c8cbb1f5d7 100644
--- a/kyaml/resid/gvk.go
+++ b/kyaml/resid/gvk.go
@@ -97,6 +97,29 @@ func (x Gvk) String() string {
 	return strings.Join([]string{k, v, g}, fieldSep)
 }
 
+// legacySortString returns an older version of String() that LegacyOrderTransformer depends on
+// to keep its ordering stable across Kustomize versions
+func (x Gvk) legacySortString() string {
+	legacyNoGroup := "~G"
+	legacyNoVersion := "~V"
+	legacyNoKind := "~K"
+	legacyFieldSeparator := "_"
+
+	g := x.Group
+	if g == "" {
+		g = legacyNoGroup
+	}
+	v := x.Version
+	if v == "" {
+		v = legacyNoVersion
+	}
+	k := x.Kind
+	if k == "" {
+		k = legacyNoKind
+	}
+	return strings.Join([]string{g, v, k}, legacyFieldSeparator)
+}
+
 // ApiVersion returns the combination of Group and Version
 func (x Gvk) ApiVersion() string {
 	var sb strings.Builder
@@ -180,7 +203,7 @@ func (x Gvk) IsLessThan(o Gvk) bool {
 	if indexI != indexJ {
 		return indexI < indexJ
 	}
-	return x.String() < o.String()
+	return x.legacySortString() < o.legacySortString()
 }
 
 // IsSelected returns true if `selector` selects `x`; otherwise, false.
diff --git a/kyaml/resid/resid.go b/kyaml/resid/resid.go
index cddbcdde60f..f786f136607 100644
--- a/kyaml/resid/resid.go
+++ b/kyaml/resid/resid.go
@@ -60,6 +60,25 @@ func (id ResId) String() string {
 		[]string{id.Gvk.String(), strings.Join([]string{nm, ns}, fieldSep)}, separator)
 }
 
+// LegacySortString returns an older version of String() that LegacyOrderTransformer depends on
+// to keep its ordering stable across Kustomize versions
+func (id ResId) LegacySortString() string {
+	legacyNoNamespace := "~X"
+	legacyNoName := "~N"
+	legacySeparator := "|"
+
+	ns := id.Namespace
+	if ns == "" {
+		ns = legacyNoNamespace
+	}
+	nm := id.Name
+	if nm == "" {
+		nm = legacyNoName
+	}
+	return strings.Join(
+		[]string{id.Gvk.String(), ns, nm}, legacySeparator)
+}
+
 func FromString(s string) ResId {
 	values := strings.Split(s, separator)
 	gvk := GvkFromString(values[0])