> Some searching on google has yielded the suggestion of installing the 
> compat-gcc packages, but I can't find too much solid information about 
> these things. Is it safe to just install them? 

The compat packages are designed to be installed in parallel
with current versions, so yes.

And on SL it is pretty easy to install these, all you need
is:

yum install compat-gcc-c++ (maybe also compat-gcc-g77, compat-gcc)
or
apt-get update && apt-get install compat-gcc-c++

Once I have them
> installed, how do I then use them?

Instead of calling gcc or g++ in your Makefile you shall use:

/usr/bin/i386-redhat-linux7-c++ or
/usr/bin/i386-redhat-linux-gcc

#/usr/bin/i386-redhat-linux7-g++ -v
Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux7/2.96/specs
gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.3 2.96-128)


> If anyone has any experiences, I be pleased to hear about them!

Well: do not count on these exact compat packages versions
to be available forever in future system versions ...
(as an example: on SL3 compat packages are: GCC 2.96
on SL4 these are: GCC 3.2.3)

jarek

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