<quote> I tried setting gcc as an alias and it works when typing a command into the shell manual, but from what I see it pukes at times when make wishes to use gcc
I moved gcc to gcc.orig and set an alias for gcc=/usr/bin/gcc.orig I wanted to make a kenel, this is an error I received when running make bzImage make: gcc: Command not found make: *** [init/main.o] Error 127 yet when I type gcc in bash I get... bash-2.05a# gcc gcc.orig: no input files </quote> You can actually do what you originally did. I personally don't think it is wise myself. I re-read your original email. I am wondering why you felt the need to eliminate changing the CCFLAGS, or CXFLAGS env vars? You seem to have gone to allot of work to force -O3 when you compile. Maybe if you want a user to always use that. Export in you rc file. If you want to force everyone on the system to always use -O3 on whatever they compile. Then maybe edit /etc/profile or /etc/csh.login ... or whatever CCFLAGS="-O3 blah blah blah" I personally would rather specifically turn the options on, as opposed to off. But to each their own. Andy
