Red Hat Linux 7.x

Red Hat 7 uses alpha versions of both gcc and glibc. All software on Red Hat 7 is ultimately compiled with or dependent upon an alpha compiler and an alpha C library. Thus, all of the software on a Red Hat 7 system can be considered to be in a relatively unstable state.

This major problem is also compounded with the many problems that usually accompany a Red Hat x.0 release.

Red Hat 7.0 totally pissed off everyone, including the gcc team and Linus Torvalds.

The thing is, they forked the gcc code without letting anyone know. This compiler is very shoddy, and was a developmental release. It fails to compile the kernel and XFree86.

Not only this, but they saw it fit to give their rotten compiler its own version number without telling anyone. "2.96". This implies that it's a release and not a code fork. And we all know that Red Hat is not Linux, and certainly Red Hat is not GNU, and Red Hat is not the GCC Steering Committee.

Linus says that RH7 is unsuitable as a development platform, and any code that compiles on it likely won't compile anywhere else.

A good thing to put in your C code:

#if __GNUC__ == 2 && __GNUC_MINOR__ == 96
	#error You are using Red Hat 7.
#endif