help building gcc-4.2.1 with GMP and MPFR updates

[Tim Prince]

Warren L Dodge wrote:
> I am trying to build gcc-4.2.1. I see in the prerequisites the following.
>
>  
>
> GNU Multiple Precision Library (GMP) version 4.1 (or later) 
>
> Necessary to build GCC. If you do not have it installed in your library
> search path, you will have to configure with the --with-gmp configure
> option. See also --with-gmp-lib and --with-gmp-include. 
>
> MPFR Library version 2.2.1 (or later) 
>
> Necessary to build GCC. It can be downloaded from http://www.mpfr.org/. The
> version of MPFR that is bundled with GMP 4.1.x contains numerous bugs.
> Although GCC may appear to function with the buggy versions of MPFR, there
> are a few bugs that will not be fixed when using this version. It is
> strongly recommended to upgrade to the recommended version of MPFR. 
>
> The --with-mpfr configure option should be used if your MPFR Library is not
> installed in your default library search path. See also --with-mpfr-lib and
> --with-mpfr-include. 
>
>  
>
> I am using GNU/Linux redhat release 4 to do the building.  I am also trying
> to build a gcc and all the other gnu utilities that are standalone from
> those provided with the operating system. The reason for this is that I also
> am building the same set of tools on solaris 8. The paths on each OS has to
> be the same for the ease of use by the users and tools.
>
>  
>
> I see that the gmp and/or mpfr versions of the GNU/Linux system are older
> then those available on the net. I want to build the gcc using these newer
> versions. I have tried a number of ways to accomplish this but the bootstrap
> build seems to not find my newer version in the later build pass.
>
>  
>
> Has someone else done this? Does anyone know how I might accomplish this?
>
>  
>
> It seems like the two libraries should each be built as part of the gcc
> build itself. This way they are installed in the gcc include/lib directories
> during the process.
>   
You could look up previous discussions on these points. You're entitled 
to include gmp and mpfr in your build setup.  Experts considered 
seriously whether to include them in the gcc source distribution, and 
didn't conclude that it would be a good solution.
You can never expect even the newest Red Hat distros to come with 
satisfactory gnu utilities (binutils, dejagnu, gmp, mpfr,....) .  For 
example, Red Hat 4.x fixed the versions of such utilities long before 
beginning development of 4.0, even though many months of additional 
development went into the 4.4,4.5 versions which are currently usable.  
They're up to 5.1 now, but even that is nowhere near as up to date as 
Fedora 7 or SuSE 10.2.  If you want minimum required updates included in 
your linux installation, there's Oracle linux, or there's SuSE with 
online update.
One of the mpfr pitfalls should be remedied by the inclusion of 
--enable-shared as a default in the newest versions.  My personal way of 
dealing with it is to configure the gmp and mpfr with --prefix=/usr 
--enable-shared, so that when I install, all the old libraries are 
replaced.  I probably don't count as a someone according to your query.