Linux 4.19 kernel will require gcc 4.6
It looks like the upcoming Linux 4.19 kernel now requires gcc version 4.6.
Linux 4.19 Raises The GCC Minimum Version
RHEL 6 uses gcc 4.4. While the new requirement would not directly impact us, end users, RH kernel engineers may need to do some work if/when they do backports from newer kernels to the RHEL-6 kernel.
Akemi
Responses
Red Hat
Expert
1164 points
Red Hat kernel engineers have long maintained Kabi across each major release. This sometimes requires modifying patches in order to backport them to Red Hat's kernel. Additionally, as not every patch is backported, sometimes patches are modified so that they will work in Red Hat's kernel.
Taking a look at the reasoning for moving to gcc version 4.6, I don't see a need for the compiler to upgraded in RHEL 6. At this point in the RHEL 6 life cycle, the only reason to change compilers is to fix serious bugs, or address serious security concerns.
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