Bug#481403: closed: please reopen!
Hi Arthur and Thiemo,
> gcc-4.2 is the default on i386, you have to switch back the default compiler
> to gcc-4.1 by hand updating /usr/bin/{cpp,gcc,g++} symlinks, etc. But you
> don't have to uninstall gcc-4.2.
Indeed; I do not have to uninstall gcc-4.2. But keeping software installed
which I and the system are not using is kind of pointless :-)
You are correct that I filed a bug against the wrong package. My - perhaps
not very clearly stated point, which I think you now understand - is that
with a kernel installed and the compiler used to compile that kernel installed,
various kernel modules' Makefiles fail.
That /usr/bin/gcc points to gcc-4.2 *when gcc-4.2 is installed* seems reasonable.
I didn't really understand why the gcc-4.2 package's postremove script could
not say "Hey ... now that gcc-4.2 is removed, it looks like there is only gcc-4.1
installed, I shall repoint the /usr/bin/gcc symlink to gcc-4.1."
> You perhaps rather want to add a comment on bug #463295 [0] about the compiler
> used for kernel build.
>
> [0] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=463295
Aaaah! Yes, that is clearly where I should have gone. Closure of this bug
is now fine with me. Thank you for the illumination.
> It is not a bug. The information you apparently miss is that /usr/bin/gcc
> points to the system's default compiler, it is not user-definable for
> reasons discussed in http://bugs.debian.org/112887 and a slew of
> similiar bug reports.
>
> Since you noticed the change of the default compiler I figure you are
> using a development version of Debian like testing or unstable.
Correct. testing as it was one week ago.
BTS#463295 doesn't get any developer comments, but can I assume from it,
and from your question if I am using a development version of Debian,
that "the ultimate plan" is that the gcc package depend on the gcc-X.Y
package which was used to build the kernel?
Put another way: *must* the kernel in a stable release be compiled with
the *default* compiler?
Alexis
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