How to uninstall gcc 4.6.2

Question

I have gcc 4.6.2 installed (installed from tar source) in my ubuntu server 10.10 64 bit, I have also installed gcc 4.4.5. I want to uninstall gcc 4.6.2 and make my old gcc 4.4.5 default. How can I do this?

Answer 1

don't need to uninstall 4.6.2 if you have installed it from the package you can do:

sudo update-alternatives --config gcc

Which will allow you to choose what is your default compiler. Uninstalling gcc 4.6.2 could impact other packages.

Answer 2

First, don't change the default compiler used by your OS super-user. The packaging guys have carefully tested that everything works with 4.6, and if you change that you risk destabilizing your system, and that could end badly.

What you can do is adjust the default compiler for yourself only by simply altering the PATH variable in your shell setup.

So, simply add this:

PATH=/path/to/your/gcc/bin:$PATH

to your ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc or whatever is most appropriate to you. (Or just add it to all of them to be on the safe side.