I really like the way we compile and install gcc. It does not come with uninstall like the other packages, but the advantage of this is that I don't need to keep the source/object folders once I have installed it. Provided that I give a suitable prefix (e.g. /usr/local/gcc-3.3.2) and ensure that it gets installed in its own separate directory, I just need to delete this directory to remove gcc (and also update my INCLUDE, LIB and LD_LIBRARY_PATH, of course). I can thus easily and safely maintain two versions of gcc simultaneously (as I do now).

Compare this with the bother of having to maintain the source folders for the other packages for as long as I need the packages themselves [*]. My home directory is simply overflowing with the gnome 2.6 package directories.

[*] Is this really true? Or am I missing something?