Build old, upgrade to new?

[Marcus Wanner]

On 9/6/2009 5:08 PM, Ken Moffat wrote:
> 2009/9/6 Marcus Wanner <marcusw at cox.net>:
>
>   
>> Ok, thanks!
>> It would be annoying to have to rebuild everything just to get a new
>> compiler...
>> One more question:
>> Would it be a bad idea to build and install new versions
>> binutils/gcc/glibc alongside the old ones, so any statically-linked
>> programs built with the old ones will still have the correct versions of
>> their libraries, but the new ones can be used to compile new programs?
>>
>> Marcus
>>     
>
>  I don't have a problem with installing parallel toolchains,
> I've done it in the past to try out a newer compiler
> (so, only binutils and gcc, this was before gmp and mpfr
> were required) - in a different $PREFIX.  I don't think it's
> sensible to try to install multiple versions of glibc.
>   
Thanks for the pointer about glibc.
>  But, I think you misunderstand my point about static
> libs : linking to these happens when a package is built.
> After that, the required functions are part of the
> executable program, not picked up at run-time.
>   
Yeah, I got static and dynamically linked programs backwards. Oops.
>  If the system is being built only for the learning
> experience, it doesn't really matter.  If you want to
> use it for real, 6.5 should be a lot better than 6.3
> (disclaimer - I still haven't built 6.5, sorting out my
> upgraded desktop is taking a very long time).
>
> ĸen
>   
I'm actually planning on using it for real; I'm trying to build a custom 
minimal OS for some older hardware (Pentium IV 2ghz, nvidia GEforce 3).

Thanks for all your help :)

Marcus