[linux] How to change the default GCC compiler in Ubuntu?

I have installed gcc-3.3/g++-3.3 on ubuntu 11.04 which already has gcc/g++-4.4. So in my system both gcc-3.3 and 4.4 are available. I am able to call both compilers as I want. If I just call the command gcc then gcc-4.4 will get called. To call gcc-3.3, I have to use the command gcc-3.3.

How can I change the default compiler as gcc-3.3? When I execute the command gcc it should call the gcc-3.3 and not gcc-4.4.

In addition, how can I change the variable CXX in a make file to gcc-3.3? I wish to change one common global place in the system instead of changing all make files.

Here's a complete example of jHackTheRipper's answer for the TL;DR crowd. :-) In this case, I wanted to run g++-4.5 on an Ubuntu system that defaults to 4.6. As root:

apt-get install g++-4.5
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.6 100
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.5 50
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.6 100
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.5 50
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/cpp cpp-bin /usr/bin/cpp-4.6 100
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/cpp cpp-bin /usr/bin/cpp-4.5 50
update-alternatives --set g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.5
update-alternatives --set gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.5
update-alternatives --set cpp-bin /usr/bin/cpp-4.5

Here, 4.6 is still the default (aka "auto mode"), but I explicitly switch to 4.5 temporarily (manual mode). To go back to 4.6:

update-alternatives --auto g++
update-alternatives --auto gcc
update-alternatives --auto cpp-bin

(Note the use of cpp-bin instead of just cpp. Ubuntu already has a cpp alternative with a master link of /lib/cpp. Renaming that link would remove the /lib/cpp link, which could break scripts.)

In case you want a quicker (but still very clean) way of achieving it for a personal purpose (for instance if you want to build a specific project having some strong requirements concerning the version of the compiler), just follow the following steps:

• type echo $PATH and look for a personal directory having a very high priority (in my case, I have ~/.local/bin);
• add the symbolic links in this directory:

For instance:

ln -s /usr/bin/gcc-WHATEVER ~/.local/bin/gcc
ln -s /usr/bin/g++-WHATEVER ~/.local/bin/g++

Of course, this will work for a single user (it isn't a system wide solution), but on the other hand I don't like to change too many things in my installation.

I used just the lines below and it worked. I just wanted to compile VirtualBox and VMWare WorkStation using kernel 4.8.10 on Ubuntu 14.04. Initially, most things were not working for example graphics and networking. I was lucky that VMWare workstation requested for gcc 6.2.0. I couldn't start my Genymotion Android emulators because virtualbox was down. Will post results later if necessary.

VER=4.6 ; PRIO=60
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-$VER $PRIO --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-$VER
VER=6 ; PRIO=50
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-$VER $PRIO --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-$VER
VER=4.8 ; PRIO=40
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-$VER $PRIO --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-$VER

I found this problem while trying to install a new clang compiler. Turns out that both the Debian and the LLVM maintainers agree that the alternatives system should be used for alternatives, NOT for versioning.

The solution they propose is something like this:
PATH=/usr/lib/llvm-3.7/bin:$PATH
where /usr/lib/llvm-3.7/bin is a directory that got created by the llvm-3.7 package, and which contains all the tools with their non-suffixed names. With that, llvm-config (version 3.7) appears with its plain name in your PATH. No need to muck around with symlinks, nor to call the llvm-config-3.7 that got installed in /usr/bin.

Also, check for a package named llvm-defaults (or gcc-defaults), which might offer other way to do this (I didn't use it).

Now, there is gcc-4.9 available for Ubuntu/precise.

Create a group of compiler alternatives where the distro compiler has a higher priority:

root$ VER=4.6 ; PRIO=60
root$ update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-$VER $PRIO --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-$VER
root$ update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/cpp cpp-bin /usr/bin/cpp-$VER $PRIO

root$ VER=4.9 ; PRIO=40
root$ update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-$VER $PRIO --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-$VER
root$ update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/cpp cpp-bin /usr/bin/cpp-$VER $PRIO

NOTE: g++ version is changed automatically with a gcc version switch. cpp-bin has to be done separately as there exists a "cpp" master alternative.

List available compiler alternatives:

root$ update-alternatives --list gcc
root$ update-alternatives --list cpp-bin

To select manually version 4.9 of gcc, g++ and cpp, do:

root$ update-alternatives --config gcc
root$ update-alternatives --config cpp-bin

Check compiler versions:

root$ for i in gcc g++ cpp ; do $i --version ; done

Restore distro compiler settings (here: back to v4.6):

root$ update-alternatives --auto gcc
root$ update-alternatives --auto cpp-bin

This is the great description and step-by-step instruction how to create and manage master and slave (gcc and g++) alternatives.

Shortly it's:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.6 60 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.6
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.7 40 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.7
sudo update-alternatives --config gcc

Between 4.8 and 6 with all --slaves:

update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.8 \
                    10 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/cc cc /usr/bin/gcc-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/c++ c++ /usr/bin/g++-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov gcov /usr/bin/gcov-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov-dump gcov-dump /usr/bin/gcov-dump-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov-tool gcov-tool /usr/bin/gcov-tool-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-ar gcc-ar /usr/bin/gcc-ar-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-nm gcc-nm /usr/bin/gcc-nm-4.8 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-ranlib gcc-ranlib /usr/bin/gcc-ranlib-4.8

and

update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-6 \
                    15 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/cc cc /usr/bin/gcc-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/c++ c++ /usr/bin/g++-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov gcov /usr/bin/gcov-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov-dump gcov-dump /usr/bin/gcov-dump-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcov-tool gcov-tool /usr/bin/gcov-tool-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-ar gcc-ar /usr/bin/gcc-ar-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-nm gcc-nm /usr/bin/gcc-nm-6 \
                    --slave   /usr/bin/gcc-ranlib gcc-ranlib /usr/bin/gcc-ranlib-6

Change between them with update-alternatives --config gcc.