linux from scratch

[Glen Kaukola]

Hi,
  I'm about to undertake the whole "linux from scratch" method of 
installing linux and wanted a little advice.  Besides wanting to learn 
more about linux one of my motivations is to optimize my system as much as 
possible.  To that end I was hoping to use gcc 3.1.  But I've been told 
that this maybe isn't a good idea since applications won't build with 3.1.  
So is that true?  Or will I have no problems using gcc 3.1?

  Also I was wondering what options I should give the compiler.  Will -O3 
be ok or will that make my system unstable?  Are there any other options I 
should consider using?

  Thanks in advance,
	Glen