ISO C++ build Because libstdc++ is part of GCC, the primary source for installation instructions is the GCC install page. Additional data is given here only where it applies to libstdc++. The list of software needed to build the library is kept with the rest of the compiler, at http://gcc.gnu.org/install/prerequisites.html. The same page also lists the tools you will need if you wish to modify the source. As of GCC 4.0.1 the minimum version of binutils required to build libstdc++ is 2.15.90.0.1.1. You can get snapshots (as well as releases) of binutils from ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/binutils. Older releases of libstdc++ do not require such a recent version, but to take full advantage of useful space-saving features and bug-fixes you should use a recent binutils if possible. The configure process will automatically detect and use these features if the underlying support is present. Finally, a few system-specific requirements: linux If gcc 3.1.0 or later on is being used on linux, an attempt will be made to use "C" library functionality necessary for C++ named locale support. For gcc 3.2.1 and later, this means that glibc 2.2.5 or later is required and the "C" library de_DE locale information must be installed. Note however that the sanity checks involving the de_DE locale are skipped when an explicit --enable-clocale=gnu configure option is used: only the basic checks are carried out, defending against misconfigurations. If the 'gnu' locale model is being used, the following locales are used and tested in the libstdc++ testsuites. The first column is the name of the locale, the second is the character set it is expected to use. de_DE ISO-8859-1 de_DE@euro ISO-8859-15 en_HK ISO-8859-1 en_PH ISO-8859-1 en_US ISO-8859-1 en_US.ISO-8859-1 ISO-8859-1 en_US.ISO-8859-15 ISO-8859-15 en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 es_ES ISO-8859-1 es_MX ISO-8859-1 fr_FR ISO-8859-1 fr_FR@euro ISO-8859-15 is_IS UTF-8 it_IT ISO-8859-1 ja_JP.eucjp EUC-JP se_NO.UTF-8 UTF-8 ta_IN UTF-8 zh_TW BIG5 Failure to have the underlying "C" library locale information installed will mean that C++ named locales for the above regions will not work: because of this, the libstdc++ testsuite will skip the named locale tests. If this isn't an issue, don't worry about it. If named locales are needed, the underlying locale information must be installed. Note that rebuilding libstdc++ after the "C" locales are installed is not necessary. To install support for locales, do only one of the following: install all locales with RedHat Linux: export LC_ALL=C rpm -e glibc-common --nodeps rpm -i --define "_install_langs all" glibc-common-2.2.5-34.i386.rpm Instructions for other operating systems solicited. install just the necessary locales with Debian Linux: Add the above list, as shown, to the file /etc/locale.gen run /usr/sbin/locale-gen on most Unix-like operating systems: localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE (repeat for each entry in the above list) Instructions for other operating systems solicited. If you have never done this before, you should read the basic GCC Installation Instructions first. Read all of them. Twice. When building libstdc++ you'll have to configure the entire gccsrcdir directory. The full list of libstdc++ specific configuration options, not dependent on the specific compiler release being used, can be found here. Consider possibly using --enable-languages=c++ to save time by only building the C++ language parts. cd gccbuilddir gccsrcdir/configure --prefix=destdir --other-opts...