Custom Configuration – Modern gcc

For various reasons, the Linux Lab machines need to stay on CentOS 7. However some software may require a more up-to-date compiler than that distro provides.

This can be accomplished by running your shell under the devtoolset-7 software collection:

$ which gcc
/usr/bin/gcc
$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-36)
...

$ scl enable devtoolset-7 "$SHELL"
$ which gcc
/opt/rh/devtoolset-7/root/usr/bin/gcc
$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 7.3.1 20180303 (Red Hat 7.3.1-5)
...

$

And then compile (and possibly use) the software under that shell.