Hello Hardened users, this is just a quick heads up. GCC 4.3.4 will be going stable on hardened profiles shortly. Unlike Hardened GCC 3.4.6, this version lacks default SSP building. However, FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 and -fno-strict-overflow are now enabled by default. Other Hardened compiler features (ex. default relro, bind now & pic/pie building) remain enabled - no change from 3.4.6.
It is regretable this must be done before GCC4 is SSP-by-default enabled. However, more and more packages require the newer GCC. The stable GCC on Hardened has been GCC 3.4.6 for a long time, but this has become an untenable situation. GCC4 SSP-by-default works and will be added in a later revision - some GCC4+SSP bugs in grub and glibc also remain to be fixed. Please follow '2. General Upgrade Instructions' in the 'Gentoo GCC Upgrade Guide' [1] when upgrading from GCC 3.4.x to GCC 4.3.x. The upgrade should be relatively smooth, but if you run into upgrade troubles seek help via this mailing list, bugs.gentoo.org, or irc.freenode.net, #gentoo-hardened. [1] http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gcc-upgrading.xml Sincerely, Gordon Malm (gengor)
