Ready to build for i686, but am a little confused

[Andrew Hurt <apolhurt@starpower.net>]

Greetings.

Trying to optimize things for i686, and have assumed I should start
with gcc(?).

I am working with gcc-2.95 as the default compiler, and have the
following sources:

gcc-2.95_2.95.4.ds8.orig.tar.gz
gcc-2.95_2.95.4.ds8-1.diff.gz
gcc-2.95_2.95.4.ds8-1.dsc

I get a successful build without doing anything to the files, but doing
a dpkg-source -x *.dsc, and going through debian/rules to get the .debs
(though they always get replaced when I do a apt-get upgrade).  My
concern lies in the configure: everything points to the build being
compiled as i386.  I am thinking this is part of the plan, but when the
host and build are both i686-pc-linux-gnu, having a i386-linux target
doesn't seem quite right.

I have tried changing many of the variables in /debian, but this always
makes a mess of things.

Should I be going the debian/rules build route, or the
src-native/./configure + make + install route?

I want to do it right, and maybe accomplish something more constructive
than just staring at web pages ;-)

BTW, I am running testing, and I have gcc-2.95 1:2.95.4-011006
installed.  Every time I build from [source].ds8, and install the debs,
they get overwritten by the former.  How am I to improve my system when
this happens?  Should I be running stable before I think about making an
optimized system?

Any help would be greatly appreciated ;-)

ah
--
"He thought in other heads--and in his own, others besides himself
thought." Bertolt Brecht