Update GCC on OSX

Solution 1:

If you install macports you can install gcc select, and then choose your gcc version.

/opt/local/bin/port install gcc_select

To see your versions use

port select --list gcc

To select a version use

sudo port select --set gcc gcc40

Solution 2:

I know it is an old request. But it might still be useful to some. With current versions of MacPorts, you can choose the default gcc version using the port command. To list the available versions of gcc, use:

$ sudo port select --list gcc

Available versions for gcc:
gcc42
llvm-gcc42
mp-gcc46
none (active)

To set gcc to the MacPorts version:

$ sudo port select --set gcc mp-gcc46

Solution 3:

I'm just dropping in to say that using a soft link to accomplish this is a terrible, no-good, horrible idea.

One of the key things about writing software is reproduceability - you want to be able to get the same results every time. These systems are so complex that you want to reduce all invisible sources of error.

Having a soft link is an invisible source of error. It's the sort of thing you'll forget in a month, then move to a different machine, and wonder why you are getting different results - or, you'll try to upgrade your system, and you'll get weird errors because it's not expecting a softlink there.

Moreover, this isn't guaranteed to work - in particular, it's not clear that you will get the correct system include files, which have certainly changed between iterations of gcc.

gcc_select is a systematic way of doing the same thing which will work predictably, or in the very worst case you can file a bug report and get an eventual fix or fix it yourself.

Unfortunately :-( gcc_select does not affect which compiler XCode uses so it's not the way to go if you need to work in XCode (which I do). I still don't know what that way might be.

Solution 4:

The following recipe using Homebrew worked for me to update to gcc/g++ 4.7:

$ brew tap SynthiNet/synthinet
$ brew install gcc47

Found it on a post here.

Solution 5:

use "gcc_select -l"

> gcc_select -l

gcc40 mp-gcc44

> gcc_select mp-gcc44