[CentOS] Compiling kernel 2.6.12.2 with gcc-3.4.3-22.1

Wed Jul 6 03:19:22 UTC 2005
Aleksandar Milivojevic <alex at milivojevic.org>

Jose Alburquerque wrote:
> Hi.  I just have a quick question that maybe some of you might know.  
> I'm thinking of compiling a new kernel (kernel 2.6.12.2) for my system 
> which is running CentOS 4 (updated to 4.1 using yum).  I downloaded the 
> kernel tarball and read in the docs that for stability gcc 2.95.x (x>=3) 
> might be best to compile the new kernel.  With an "rpm -q gcc" command I 
> see that I have gcc-3.4.3-22.1 installed on my box.  Can anyone tell me 
> if the kernel I'm trying to compile will compile fine using the version 
> I have installed?  Should I "downgrade" my gcc to 2.95 to compile this 
> kernel?
> 
> The reason I'm trying to compile an new kernel is that my system uses a 
> LSI Logic/Symbios Logic 53c875 SCSI controller (information obtained 
> from "System Tools/Hardware Browser" menu in GNOME) and I keep getting a 
> bunch of errors like the following in my system logs:
> 
> sym0:0:0:phase change 6-7 11 at 12856b84 resid=2.
> 
> I read somewhere that by compiling a new kernel (2.6.11, I think), this 
> problem might go away and I wanted my system to run as efficiently so 
> decided to compile a new kernel.  Am I doing the right thing?  Thanks!

The recomendation for the compiler is rather old, from the times linux 
kernel developers and gcc compiler developers had somewhat conflictig 
views on some features of C programming language.  Don't remember 
exactly what it was about, but discussion between them looked rather 
childish.  As far as I know, this is not an issue anymore, the new 
kernel should compile and run just fine even if you use 3.4.x gcc.  I 
don't think anybody is using gcc 2.xx anymore, and the very kernel you 
are now running is compiled with gcc 3.4.x.