gcc12 fault?

[Joshua Root]

Ken Cunningham wrote:

> what you see is difficult to explain, unless the PATH changed between the two tests.
>
> if
>
> 'which gcc' gives /opt/local/bin/gcc
>
> then
>
> gcc --version
>
> should give exactly the same as
>
> /opt/local/bin/gcc --version

Not necessarily. Shells cache command locations, so if 'gcc' was run 
prior to the creation of /opt/local/bin/gcc, subsequently invocations 
will continue to run the previously found gcc. Running 'hash -r' or 
starting a new shell will give you an empty cache and thus set things right.

The 'which' command doesn't know about the shell's cache state; it only 
looks at the current PATH. This is why 'type' often helps to understand 
what's going on in these situations, as Richard hinted.

- Josh