>> I just upgraded from gcc-4.4.3-r2 to gcc-4.4.4-r2 and I'm wondering if >> I really need to rebuild everything as it says in the guide: >> >> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gcc-upgrading.xml > > No, you do not need to do this. The document is over-reaching (see below) > > I ran a mixture of 4.4.3 and 4.4.4 for ages, completely trouble-free. > >> If not, when is it necessary? > > When you have an ABI change in the code generated by the compiler. In other > words, when code generated by this version is incompatible with code generated > by that version, and you have both on the same system. This has not happened > for a long time in gcc-land. > > Now, about that official doc. Your question comes up with unbelievable > regularity and every time the poster references that doc. But it is not > necessary to do what the doc says, and a long time ago I think I figured it > out. > > The author's intention is less to give you the absolute complete total 100% > truth that will always work out just fine, and more to reduce the amount of > clutter in his inbox or on b.g.o. > > The rules about how to detect when a rebuild of world is needed are complex > and most readers simply will not understand them - they don't understand > compiler internals (how many people DO?). But if you tell people to just > rebuild world every time, and weird funny lurking problems are likely to just > get fixed as a side effect, no real harm is done. Does it hurt the author? No. > Does it reduce the amount of bugs he has to deal with on the rare occasion it > is needed? Yes. > > What does the user lose? Nothing much, more cpu cycles get used, more bits > flip on a disk, your video card gets a work out scrolling all that text. Will > you waste time? Yes. Will you break stuff? No. > > So rebuild world if it makes you feel better. But you don't need to this time. > The authors of gcc will certainly notify the entire world and it's dogs when > you do need to.
Thank you everyone. I won't rebuild. - Grant
