newbie:updating stuff with out killing the system

[Guest_imported]

Hello,
I'm trying to find out how to update certain system programs with killing the system.
Basically I need to update my gcc to ver 3 and some other programs.
The reason being that I'm trying to compile new software, but it requires all the latest stuff.

Thank you in advance

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

It probably depends on your distro. Redhat 7.x ships gcc3 as separately named rpms so you can install them alongside the regular gcc (2.96) series rpms. You then compile with 'gcc3' instead of 'gcc'. You do also need to udpate the relevant lib rpms - e.g. libgcc .

What linux version are you using ?

Regards

 

[Guest_imported]

thanks
I'm using slackware 8...