gcc-2.95.2 fails to build under Redhat 7.0

[John G. Shaw]

I obtained gcc-2.95.2.tar.gz (filesize 12885815) from 

  ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/sourceware/gcc/releases/index.html

and tried to build it on an i686 running Redhat 7.0 (with the
2.96 compiler and a "fixed" glibc-2.1.94-3). The build failed near
the end of the 3rd (I think) stage when trying to make the C++
runtime libraries. All the compilers were built (and I even compiled
about 50k lines of C++ with them, but was unable to link).

The problem occurs with libio/indstream.cc, a few warnings are issued
and then the make exits on a error 2. I was able to repeat this by
entering the appropriate (build) directory and trying

  make indstream.o
  
The full build failed EXACTLY in the same place when a completely new
build was tried (ie., its not random, and probably now not hardware
related).
  
(I hope I got this right I'm at work now and writing this from
memory based on what happened at home yesterday).

Given that 2.95.2 is an older, stable release and the install instructions
are straight forward, I can't see what else to try or why it should fail.

As idle spectulation, is there any chance this is why Redhat distributed
2.96 (which fails on some of my codes without minor workarounds) contrary
to their story?

tnx ... John G. Shaw