Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Remerge the system with gcc-4.1?

[Mick]

On Wednesday 10 October 2007, Daevid Vincent wrote:

> What is the compelling reason to update if any? I've masked out this new
> GCC for many months and have had no "issues" thus far that I know of.

As I understand it, your future compiles will faster, safer, more stable and 
what have you, as the newer compiler is meant to produce 'better' code.

> I absolutely dread dicking with this for days and days, fixing things
> that currently work, merging all the /etc/ files with the "new" ones for
> the same packages that will be simply re-compiled with the new GCC.

If you follow the relevant upgrade guide to the letter, it *shouldn't* be as 
dramatic as this.  Nevertheless, your mileage may vary and all the caveat 
emptors that go with it means that you better leave this upgrade for a rainy 
day, rather than when you want to use the machine for production purposes.

> So my questions are:
>
> [a] what compelling reason is there to upgrade (other than "you should
> b/c it's stable")

As per my understanding above.

> [b] is it just better to d/l a new Gentoo .iso install that has all this
> crap already, copy over my world file or whatever and have it install
> the missing packages (apache, php, mysql, kde, gnome, etc)

Well, you'll still need to rebuild all/most of your world.

> [c] if I do that method, I would save the hassle of KDE and Gnome right?
> As they come as binaries already?

They do?  Have I missed something?

> [d] can I just "not fix if it aint broke" and keep with what I have? Or
> is this just a question of time before I start hitting walls of new
> packages I can't use.

I guess you could get away with it for quite some time.  Someone more 
knowledgeable on system development ought to advise better here.

Good luck.  :)
-- 
Regards,
Mick