Changing the Default C Compiler

[Reisswolf]

Hi,

I posted this in the newbie forum earlier, but this might be a more appropriate forum for it.

I've just installed gcc 3.3.2, but when I do "gcc -v" I still get "gcc 2.96." How do I set gcc3 as the default C compiler on my system?

Thanks for your help.

*****

I've searched Google quite a bit to find an answer. A long time ago I saw something like "export CC=$CC:/usr/local/bin/gcc3" as a way to export the new compiler as the default, but after I export, I still get "gcc 2.96" when I run "gcc -v."

[dan@george]

I think the command /usr/bin/gcc is just a symlink to /usr/bin/gcc-x.xx. I know it is on my system; to see if it is on yours, just use

file /usr/bin/gcc

If it is a symlink, the output should be something like

/usr/bin/gcc: symbolic link to `/usr/bin/gcc-2.96'

If this is the case, just change the target of the link with

ln -sf /usr/bin/gcc-3.3.2 /usr/bin/gcc

Good luck!

[Reisswolf]

Hi Goran,

Here's what I get when I do that:

$ file /usr/bin/gcc
/usr/bin/gcc: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
$

So it appears that mine is not a symlink.

I just have to keep searching for an answer, I guess.

[dan@george]

What programs do you have in /usr/bin/ that start with gcc? I.e., what's the output of

find /usr/bin | grep gcc

If you see both gcc-3.3.2 and gcc-2.96, then maybe your /usr/bin/gcc file is a hard link. Run

stat /usr/bin/gcc

to find out: if it says Links: 2, then this is probably the case, and you should do as follows (otherwise I'm out of ideas, but maybe someone else on the forum can help):

Just in case this doesn't work, make a backup copy of /usr/bin/gcc at ~/gcc.backup or something. Then simply remove /usr/bin/gcc and then run

ln -s /usr/bin/gcc-3.3.2 /usr/bin/gcc

Now the command gcc should point to gcc-3.3.2. If it didn't work, remove the link and copy your backup file back to /usr/bin/gcc. And that's all I can think of.