It seems that I've successfully built gcc-4.8 in a sub-directory of my $HOME directory, after obtaining the source code through git. As there were problems with `make' the first time around with java, the second time around I only enabled the languages C, C++ and Fortran; that was done in options to the "configure" script: $ git checkout -b gcc-4_8-branch origin/gcc-4_8-branch $ cd gcc $ ./configure --enable-languages=c,c++,fortran $ make < Here I snip the output of "build", except the last few lines, copied below... > libtool: link: /usr/local/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bin/ranlib .libs/libatomic.a libtool: link: ( cd ".libs" && rm -f "libatomic.la" && ln -s "../libatomic.la" "libatomic.la" ) true DO=all multi-do # make make[8]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/32/libatomic' make[7]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/32/libatomic' make[6]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/32/libatomic' make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libatomic' make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libatomic' make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libatomic' make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/libatomic' make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/david/local_gcc/gcc' -- I don't want to install in the default directories the C and Fortran compilers for the time being. I'd like to test the GCC 4.8 C and Fortran compilers for now. I suppose I could do that from the /home/david/local_gcc/gcc directory or a sub-directory, or else perhaps install GCC 4.8 in a non-standard directory, so as not to interfere with the "System" gcc, i.e.: gcc (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4) . I have the GCC 4.8.2 manual with me, but I've only used the gcc C compiler that comes with my Linux distribution, CentOS 6.5 . I would welcome advice on how to test the GCC 4.8 C and Fortran compilers that were built in my home directory's sub-directory, i.e. /home/david/local_gcc/gcc . Thanks for the help. David Bernier Below, I've listed the contents of the (GCC 4.8) build directory $HOME/local_gcc/gcc . $ ls -l total 4596 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 38475 Jan 10 12:16 ABOUT-NLS drwxrwxr-x. 7 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 boehm-gc drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:41 build-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 552710 Jan 10 13:36 ChangeLog -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 3262 Jan 10 12:16 ChangeLog.tree-ssa -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 10 Jan 10 15:23 compare -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 3707 Jan 10 12:16 compile drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 config -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 44850 Jan 10 13:36 config.guess -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 29212 Jan 10 18:30 config.log -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 25398 Jan 10 12:16 config-ml.in -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 14916 Jan 10 12:16 config.rpath -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 33361 Jan 10 18:30 config.status -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 35686 Jan 10 13:36 config.sub -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 471491 Jan 10 13:36 configure -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 103198 Jan 10 13:36 configure.ac drwxrwxr-x. 5 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 contrib -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 18002 Jan 10 12:16 COPYING -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 35147 Jan 10 12:16 COPYING3 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 7639 Jan 10 12:16 COPYING3.LIB -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 26527 Jan 10 12:16 COPYING.LIB -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 3324 Jan 10 12:16 COPYING.RUNTIME -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 18615 Jan 10 12:16 depcomp drwxrwxr-x. 3 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 fixincludes drwxrwxr-x. 18 david david 20480 Jan 10 13:36 gcc drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 gnattools drwxrwxr-x. 28 david david 4096 Jan 10 18:35 host-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 include drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 12:16 INSTALL -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 13663 Jan 10 12:16 install-sh drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 intl drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libada drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libatomic drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libbacktrace drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libcpp drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libdecnumber drwxrwxr-x. 8 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libffi drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libgcc drwxrwxr-x. 9 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libgfortran drwxrwxr-x. 6 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libgo drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libgomp drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libiberty drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libitm drwxrwxr-x. 15 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libjava drwxrwxr-x. 3 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libmudflap drwxrwxr-x. 4 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libobjc drwxrwxr-x. 5 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libquadmath drwxrwxr-x. 7 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libsanitizer drwxrwxr-x. 3 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libssp drwxrwxr-x. 11 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 libstdc++-v3 -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 3370 Jan 10 12:16 libtool-ldflags -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 263658 Jan 10 13:36 libtool.m4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 1768 Jan 10 12:16 ltgcc.m4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 249709 Jan 10 12:16 ltmain.sh -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 6126 Jan 10 12:16 lt~obsolete.m4 drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 lto-plugin -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 11950 Jan 10 12:16 ltoptions.m4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 4372 Jan 10 12:16 ltsugar.m4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 703 Jan 10 12:16 ltversion.m4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 23258 Jan 10 13:36 MAINTAINERS drwxrwxr-x. 2 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 maintainer-scripts -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 736606 Jan 10 18:30 Makefile -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 26999 Jan 10 13:36 Makefile.def -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 1545138 Jan 10 13:36 Makefile.in -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 68387 Jan 10 13:36 Makefile.tpl -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 11419 Jan 10 12:16 missing -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 2179 Jan 10 12:16 mkdep -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 3538 Jan 10 12:16 mkinstalldirs -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 2648 Jan 10 12:16 move-if-change drwxrwxr-x. 7 david david 4096 Jan 10 15:00 prev-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 1026 Jan 10 12:16 README -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 13 Jan 10 18:30 serdep.tmp drwxrwxr-x. 7 david david 4096 Jan 10 14:03 stage1-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 7 Jan 10 18:35 stage_current -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 7 Jan 10 13:40 stage_final -rw-rw-r--. 1 david david 7 Jan 10 18:35 stage_last -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 2265 Jan 10 12:16 symlink-tree drwxrwxr-x. 18 david david 4096 Jan 10 18:46 x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu -rwxrwxr-x. 1 david david 6179 Jan 10 12:16 ylwrap drwxrwxr-x. 14 david david 4096 Jan 10 13:36 zlib
