Changing default C compiler in Linux, using SCons

Question

On my Linux platform, I have several versions of gcc.

Under usr/bin I have:

• gcc34
• gcc44
• gcc

Here are some outputs:

$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-48)

$ gcc44 --version
gcc44 (GCC) 4.4.0 20090514 (Red Hat 4.4.0-6)

I need to use the 4.4 version of gcc however the default seems to the 4.1 one.

I there a way to replace /usr/bin/gcc and make gcc44 the default compiler not using a symlink to /usr/bin/gcc44 ?

The reason why I can't use a symlink is because my code will have to be shipped in a RPM package using mock. mock creates a minimal linux installation from scratch and just install the specified dependencies before compiling my code in it. I cannot customize this "minimal installation".

Ideally, the perfect solution would be to install an official RPM package that replaces gcc with gcc44 as the default compiler. Is there such a package ? Is this even possible/good ?

Additional information

I have to use SCons (a make alternative) and it doesn't let me specify the binary to use for gcc.

I will also accept any answer that will tell me how to specify the gcc binary in my SConstruct file.

Answer 1

1. One way is to compile and install gcc from source.

2. See http://old.nabble.com/Choosing-compiler-td4675207.html

From that:

env = Environment()
env.Replace(CC = "my_cc_compiler")

Or, as per the answer to this question,

cc = env['gcc44']

Answer 2

This is a long way in the past now, but I just thought I'd add the solution I found, which doesn't require changing the SConscript file. It was useful for me as I need to build v8 under centos 5, so possibly it may be useful for someone else too.

CC=gcc44 CXX=g++44 scons

That's it!

Answer 3

One way which I have tried out and which works is:

alias cc='/usr/bin/gcc44' 

or

alias gcc='/usr/bin/gcc44' 

which depends on if you use cc or gcc to compile the code.

you can run the above commands whenever you want to use cc/gcc or you can add the above line is ~/.bashrc or /etc/bashrc file.

Note: You must execute source ~/.bashrc or source /etc/bashrc after adding the alias'