Which version of GCC to use: an example

[Bob Gustafson <bobgus at mcs dot com>]

My goal was to compile and install prcs-1.3.1  (a new source code
control system)

I started out with gcc version 2.96 which is the stock version supplied
with RedHat 7.2 (for i686-pc-linux-gnu)

   ./configure 2>&1 | tee config.out
    make 2>&1 | tee make.out

The last few lines of make.out are:

    make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
      c++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I./include -O2 -Wall
-fno-implicit-templates -c prcs.cc
      In file included from include/prcs.h:44,
           from prcs.cc:27:
      /usr/include/g++-3/iostream.h:97: `ostream::operator<<
         (char)' has already been declared in `ostream'
      /usr/include/g++-3/iostream.h:217: `istream::operator>>
         (char &)' has already been declared in `istream'
      make[3]: *** [prcs.o] Error 1
      make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
      make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
      make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
      make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
      make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1'
      make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2
      [root@hoho0 prcs-1.3.1]#
.....
I thought it might be a problem with the compiler, so I downloaded and
installed gcc-3.0.3 and reconfigured and compiled prcs
(files expanded fresh from tar.gz).

It still won't make. Last bit of the make.out file is given  below
( make 2>&1 | tee make.out).

                             ...
      make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
      c++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I./include    -O2 -Wall
-fno-implicit-templates -c prcs.cc
      In file included from include/typedefs.h:125,
             from include/prcs.h:53,
             from prcs.cc:27:
      include/prcserror.h:30:25: stdiostream.h:
             No such file or directory
      In file included from include/typedefs.h:125,
             from include/prcs.h:53,
             from prcs.cc:27:
     include/prcserror.h:455: type specifier omitted for parameter
     include/prcserror.h:455: parse error before `*' token
     include/prcserror.h:479: syntax error before `*' token
     include/prcserror.h:447: base `PrettyOstream' with only non-default
constructor in class without a constructor
     include/prcserror.h:509: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:512: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:515: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:518: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:521: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:530: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:533: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:536: parse error before `,' token
     include/prcserror.h:537: parse error before `,' token
     include/prcserror.h:538: parse error before `)' token
     include/prcserror.h:541: parse error before `&' token
     include/prcserror.h:544: parse error before `,' token
     include/prcserror.h:545: parse error before `,' token
     include/prcserror.h:546: parse error before `)' token
     include/prcserror.h:554: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:555: parse error before `*' token
     include/prcserror.h:556: parse error before `&' token
     include/prcserror.h:570: parse error before `char'
     include/prcserror.h:589: parse error before `*' token
     include/prcserror.h:592: parse error before `*' token
     include/prcserror.h:600: parse error before `)' token
     prcs.cc: In function `PrPrcsExitStatusError config_command()':
     prcs.cc:432: `squote' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc:432: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only  once for
each function it appears in.)
     prcs.cc:433: `setcol' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc: In function `PrPrcsExitStatusError invoke_command(PrcsCommand*)':
     prcs.cc:587: `force' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc:588: `report' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc:589: `optfail' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc:590: `defopt' undeclared (first use this function)
     prcs.cc:591: `query' undeclared (first use this function)
     make[3]: *** [prcs.o] Error 1
     make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
     make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
     make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1/src'
     make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
     make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/src/prcs-1.3.1'
     make: *** [all-recursive-am] Error 2
     [root@hoho0 prcs-1.3.1]#


Finally, I installed gcc version 2.95.3  (2.95.3 20010315 (release)) and
this worked fine.

I don't know if there are bugs in the compiler(s) or bugs in prcs-1.3.1,
but this might be a regression test to pass for the newer compilers.

PCRS can be obtained at  http://sourceforge.net/projects/prcs