Using the COMPILER_PATH option with gcc and Solaris 2.7

[Mark McGee]

Many people are reporting a problem with gcc that may be caused by the
COMPILER_PATH environment variable.  The problem manifests itself when
trying to compile any c or c++ program.  When starting a compile the
compiler starts forking off copies of itself until the system is out of
resources.  The symptoms are a system that runs out of resources such as
virtual memory etc.  I had the problem and thought that it had something
to do with the fact that I have a new Sun Ultra 10 running Solaris 2.7
(and possible 64 bit issues).  When a precompiled version of the
compiler was posted on the Sun Freeware site I downloaded it and things
seemed to be okay until one of my coworkers had the same old problem
with the new precompiled version of gcc.  We dug around the environment
variables and figured out that the COMPILER_PATH was the culprit.  It
apparently should NOT be set.  We managed to get everyone happily
compiling by removing the variable from each persons set-up.

We are running Sun Ultra Sparc 5's and 10's with Solaris 2.7.

gcc -v:

Reading specs from
/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.7/2.95.2/specs
gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)

regards,
Mark McGee

mark.mcgee@itd.sterling.com

Sterling Software
1404 Ft. Crook Rd. So.
Bellevue NE 68005
(402)291-8300