gcc 2.7.2 and egcs on the same system

[Iain McClatchie <iainmcc at ix dot netcom dot com>]

For my mainline development work, I'd like to use gcc 2.7.2.  On the
same system, I'd like to have egcs installed so that I can see what
sorts of efficiency I can expect when the code ships.  When I tune my
code, I'll tune it for egcs, but I'll do my debugging on gcc 2.7.2 so
that I can avoid most compiler instability.

Or at least, that was the idea.  Following a suggestion on the FAQ,
I installed binutils-2.8.1.0.18.  That wasn't so smart -- now gcc 2.7.2
won't compile.  Before I get myself any deeper in trouble, could
someone suggest to me how I get gcc 2.7.2 back into working condition?
If it helps at all, the system was a RedHat 4.2 system before I
upgraded binutils.

After that, I'd be interested to hear how to get egcs's auto-configure
to run without installing the new binutils.  The old ones seemed to
cause a failure, which I can't display here since I can't reproduce it
since I don't have the old binutils.

Thank you,

-Iain McClatchie

P.S. has anyone run the 23-line test case I posted earlier through
egcs?  Has the performance regression between C and C++ been fixed?