Can the 64 bit RHEL gcc be change to build 32 bit binaries instead of 64 bit binaries without -m32?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 and 6
  • gcc-4.4.6-4.el6.x86_64
  • gcc-4.1.2-52.el5.x86_64
  • glibc-devel.i386

Issue

  • Is it possible to change the 64 bit RHEL gcc to build 32 bit binaries instead of 64 bit binaries without specifying -m32 on the gcc command line every time?

Resolution

Currently, this can not be accomplished by modifying the SPEC files for the default gcc versions of RHEL 5 and RHEL 6. Some alternatives are below:

  • Use a wrapper shell script (glibc-devel.i386 rpm is required)
#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/bin/gcc -m32 "$@"

  • Use the mock tool to set up a 32-bit environment for compiles

  • Install 32-bit RHEL in a virtual machine and send build jobs to it

  • Component
  • gcc

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