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How to Know the GCC Version Used to Compile Linux kernel on Linux

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This post will guide you how to know the gcc compiler version that used to compile the current linux kernel on CentOS/Ubuntu Linux system. How to find the Linux kernel version and GCC compiler version on your system. How to identify what version of GCC compiler was used to compile your running Linux kernel.

Check Linux Kernel Version

If you want to get the running Linux kernel version on your system, you can use the following command to get it.

$ uname -a

or

$ cat /proc/version

outputs:

devops@devops-osetc:~$ uname -a
Linux devops-osetc 4.8.0-36-generic #36~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Sun Feb 5 09:39:57 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
devops@devops-osetc:~$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 4.8.0-36-generic (buildd@lgw01-18) (gcc version 5.4.0 20160609 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) ) #36~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Sun Feb 5 09:39:57 UTC 2017

From the above outputs, you can know the current version of running Linux kernel is 4.8.0-36.

Check GCC Compiler Version Used to Compile Kernel

If you installed multiple versions of GCC compilers in your system, and then you want to check the GCC compiler version that used to compile the running Linux kernel on your system, How to achieve the result. You can get it from /proc/version file. type the following command:

$ cat /proc/version

Outputs:

Linux version 4.8.0-36-generic (buildd@lgw01-18) (gcc version 5.4.0 20160609 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) ) #36~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Sun Feb 5 09:39:57 UTC 2017

So we can see from the above outputs that the gcc version is gcc version 5.4.0 .

Install An Older GCC Compiler Version (gcc 4.3.2)

If you need to install an older version of GCC Compiler on your Linux system, you can download the GCC Compiler source package from http://mirrors-usa.go-parts.com/gcc/releases/gcc-4.3.2/gcc-4.3.2.tar.gz, and compile and install the source code. just do the following commands:

$ wget http://mirrors-usa.go-parts.com/gcc/releases/gcc-4.3.2/gcc-4.3.2.tar.gz
$ tar -zxvf gcc-4.3.2.tar.gz
$ cd gcc-4.3.2
$ ./configure
$ make;make install;

Check the Version of GCC Compiler Is Installed

If you want to check the versions of GCC compiler are installed in your Linux system, you can use the following commands:

For Ubuntu/Debian Linux:

Type:

$ dpkg --list | grep -i gcc

Outputs:

devops@devops-osetc:~$ dpkg --list | grep -i gcc
ii gcc 4:5.3.1-1ubuntu1 amd64 GNU C compiler
ii gcc-3.4 3.4.6-5 amd64 The GNU C compiler
ii gcc-3.4-base 3.4.6-5 amd64 The GNU Compiler Collection (base package)
ii gcc-5 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GNU C compiler
ii gcc-5-base:amd64 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection (base package)
ii gcc-6-base:amd64 6.0.1-0ubuntu1 amd64 GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection (base package)
ii gir1.2-packagekitglib-1.0 0.8.17-4ubuntu6~gcc5.4ubuntu1.1 amd64 GObject introspection data for the PackageKit GLib library
ii libcaca0:amd64 0.99.beta19-2build2~gcc5.2 amd64 colour ASCII art library
ii libcc1-0:amd64 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GCC cc1 plugin for GDB
ii libgcc-5-dev:amd64 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GCC support library (development files)
ii libgcc1:amd64 1:6.0.1-0ubuntu1 amd64 GCC support library
ii libgomp1:amd64 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GCC OpenMP (GOMP) support library
ii libpackagekit-glib2-16:amd64 0.8.17-4ubuntu6~gcc5.4ubuntu1.1 amd64 Library for accessing PackageKit using GLib
ii libquadmath0:amd64 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4 amd64 GCC Quad-Precision Math Library
ii libunity-action-qt1:amd64 1.1.0+14.04.20140304-0ubuntu2~gcc5.1 amd64 Unity Action Qt API
ii libwebrtc-audio-processing-0:amd64 0.1-3ubuntu1~gcc5.1 amd64 AudioProcessing module from the WebRTC project.
ii qtchooser 52-gae5eeef-2build1~gcc5.2 amd64 Wrapper to select between Qt development binary versions
ii qtdeclarative5-unity-action-plugin:amd64 1.1.0+14.04.20140304-0ubuntu2~gcc5.1 amd64 Unity Action QML Components

For CentOS/RHEL Linux:

Type:

$ yum list intalled | grep -i gcc

outputs:

[root@osetc_test ~]# yum list installed | grep -i gcc
gcc.x86_64 4.4.7-23.el6 @base
gcc-c++.x86_64 4.4.7-23.el6 @base
gcc-gfortran.x86_64 4.4.7-23.el6 @base
libgcc.x86_64 4.4.7-23.el6 @base

Choose the Default GCC Version

If you want to compile a C program with a specific version of GCC Compiler, then you need to change the default GCC compiler version, for example, you want to choose the GCC compiler 3.4 as the default compiler. just run one of the following command:

$ export gcc=/usr/bin/gcc-3.4

Or

$ sudo rm /usr/bin/gcc
$ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/gcc-3.4 /usr/bin/gcc

Verify the default GCC Compiler Version

$ gcc --version

Outputs:

devops@devops-osetc:~$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 3.4.6 (Debian 3.4.6-5)
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Video: Check GCC Version Used to Compile running Linux kernel

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