From help-octave-request at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu  Fri Sep 15 15:56:14 1995
Subject: Re: Alpha GCC for compiling Octave 
From: niles at hp5-745 dot gsfc dot nasa dot gov
To: Eyal Doron <doron at mickey dot mpi-hd dot mpg dot de>
Cc: help-octave at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu (Octave mailing list),         niles@hp5-745.gsfc.nasa.gov
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 95 16:55:26 -0400


>   What GCC do I need to compile Octave on a DEC Alpha? We gave 2.6.3,
>but I recall something about a higher version needed. Unfortunately,
>our sys admin claims that 2.7.0 is a beta version and so refuses to
>install it. Whats the truth?
 
Octave 1.1.1 should be compiled with GCC 2.6.3. John Eaton issued
a statement saying that GCC 2.7.0 will not work with the current
Octave and people shouldn't use it to compile Octave.

However, GCC 2.7.0 is NOT a beta version in any way!  I've been using
it since it's release.  I've only found one bug which was in the
optimizer and was probably in 2.6.3 as well.  You can have mult.
versions of gcc running if your not sure about the new version.  One
controls which version is used with the "-V" directive.

e.g. "gcc -V 2.6.3 foo.c" will compile with version 2.6.3 of gcc even
if your running version 2.7.x, provided you don't delete the 2.6.3
stuff.

	Rick Niles.