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[Joe Buck]

>   > I'd like to see my library interface in 1.1. Otherwise, it may be
>   > a disaster for Linux where libstdc++ is usd by the system. It is very
>   > likely that
>   > 
>   > # configure --prefix=/usr
> I suspect most folks do not do this.  And I certainly do not recommend
> doing this since it overwrites files in the "system area".

You're used to thinking in terms where there is a "system compiler"
and there is gcc.  But on OSes where gcc *is* the system compiler, at
some point a new compiler has to be installed into the "system area".
This operation should work "out of the box", though perhaps extra warnings
would be nice.  Yes, you can tell people "don't set --prefix=/usr",
but then how do they build /usr/bin/gcc?  You can tell them "don't do
this, let HJ do it for you", but folks should be able to patch the
compiler, rebuild it, and install it as the system compiler (possibly
screwing up their system, but hey, how else do you learn?).

The operation does have to be done at some point by those making
distributions for which egcs is the primary compiler, or distributing
packages designed to be installed this way.  Let's not get back into the
same boat of forcing HJ to patch each g++/libg++ release.  If a relatively
simple patch can make the lives of people who make distributions easier,
it seems worthwhile.