Re: detection of gcc version

[Vincent Torri]

> > I would like to detect the major version of gcc in configure.ac. A guy
> > told me to use sed like that:
> >
> > GCC_MAJOR_VERSION=`$CC -dumpversion | sed "s/\..*//"`
> >
> > Is there a better way to do that with autoconf macros ?
>
> What about using preprocessor macros and AC_COMPILE_IFELSE?  For example,
>
> #if __GNUC__ > 4 || (__GNUC__ == 4 && __GNUC_MINOR__ >= 2)
> int dummy;
> #else
> not gcc, or gcc is too old
> #endif
>
> But in general, version number checks tend to be counterproductive; the
> autoconf philosophy favors feature checks over version number checks.

now that you mention it, i indeed prefer to check the feature

thank you

Vincent Torri