How to use multiple versions of GCC

Question

We have a new application that requires glibc 2.4 (from gcc 4.1). The machine we have runs on has gcc 3.4.6. We can not upgrade, and the application must be run on this ma

Answer 1

for Ubuntu it's pretty easy

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test

sudo apt-get update

and then install for example gcc version 6

sudo apt-get install gcc-6

Answer 2

Have you tried gcc-select? Otherwise, try setting the INCLUDE_PATH and LIBRARY_PATH in your shell.

Answer 3

You possibly still execute the old gcc. Try making a symlink from gcc to your version of it, like

ln -s gcc-4.1 gcc

Beware of not removing an old "gcc" binary placed there, in case they placed not just a symlink. If you can recompile your own gcc version, the safest is just use another prefix at configure time of gcc, something like --prefix=/home/jojo/usr/gcc (i did it that way with gcc-4.4 from svn-trunk, and it worked great).

Note that that just runs the right gcc version. If you update your gcc, your glibc won't be updated automatically too. It's a separate package which is deeply coupled with the rest of the system. Be careful when installing another glibc version.

Answer 4

Refer "How to install multiple versions of GCC" here in the GNU GCC FAQ.

There's also a white paper here.

Answer 5

update-alternatives is a very good way to have multiple gcc versions:

http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-install-and-setup-gcc-4-1g4-1-in-ubuntu-10-0410-10