Where can I find a C complier

[Chris A Czerwinski]

On Fri, 2004-07-30 at 00:39, Pedro Fernandes Macedo wrote:
> Chris A Czerwinski wrote:
> 
> >Help me out- If FEDORA is REDHAT doesn't gcc come with FC1, FC2 and FC3?
> >Because isn't that what you use to compile your kernel?
> >Or are you tricking us that you may need a special version eg gcc2.96 ??
> >
> >  
> >
> First: Fedora isnt redhat..

I see REDHAT supports FEDORA and then uses their OS later on but doesn't
want to be associated with FEDORA when things go wrong?  You cannot have
your cake and eat it at the same time?  So which is it?

> Second: Fedora comes with gcc , but it's only installed in case you tell 
> the installer to install it (it's under the development tools) or any 
> package that depends on it.
> 
> >Which brings me to my next question - How would you compile your various
> >applications with various C compilers and libraries i.e. config's? 
> >
> >  
> >
> Depends.. if you want to use the latest gcc , usually you simply do vi 
> README ; vi INSTALL ; ./configure ; ./make ; ./make install
> BUT , please read both the README and INSTALL files , because they 
> usually contain information that is usefull to compile the program.
> 
> >I guess I need to know the CONFIGUERATIONs "how to?" and "what links"
> >and/or "Lib"raries are necessary also with their links. Or how do you
> >mamage the LINKs - this is getting into ADVANCE LINKing and COMPILEing
> >  
> >
> I didnt get this part.. If you mean the linking part that occurs when 
> you compile a program , you dont control it a lot... To find the 
> necessary libs , you have to pay attention to the output of 
> ./configure.. It looks for the necessary libs and reports if it finds 
> them or not. If a important lib wasnt found , the compile part will 
> simply fail. If a acessory lib wasnt found , then the program can  still 
> be compiled , but will be missing some functionality.
> Usually when I compile a program from source (which is a bit rare , 
> considering all the repositories available) , is exactly what I told you 
> before (vi README ; etc...) . But I usually do ./configure |tee 
> output.log , so I can see what's going on and save the output to 
> "output.log" . Then I look at the output.log file and look for all the 
> tests that failed (to find if it's looking for a lib on the wrong place 
> , if the program needs a lib I dont have , etc). Then , I correct all 
> the problems (usually downloading the -devel package for that missing 
> lib fixes everything). Then I keep doing the configure step untill 
> everything works (or untill I get all the parts I want working). Then I 
> proceed to compiling normally..
> 
> Hope this helps..
> 
> --
> Pedro Macedo

I was wondering out loud - Aren't all libraries backward compatible?
Would the lastest gcc and it's libraries be backward compatible to
gcc2.96? and if not, can your system have gcc 3.4.1 environment at the
same time as e.g. gcc 2.96 environment. So the real question is ---
How can I configure these various environments and switch between them?
That's where I'm coming from?

A side note:	Didn't ORACLE8i need certain libraries ONLY from gcc2.96
environment for it to function properly? Isn't it also the reason that
RedHat wanted to stay with a compiler for a certain amount of time
before releasing the next version? Or what was the real reason for
staying put? 

Chris Cz (Newbie thru and thru yet always learning)