12.4. Fixed Header Files

12.4 Fixed Header Files

GCC needs to install corrected versions of some system header files. This is because most target systems have some header files that won't work with GCC unless they are changed. Some have bugs, some are incompatible with ISO C, and some depend on special features of other compilers.

Installing GCC automatically creates and installs the fixed header files, by running a program called fixincludes. Normally, you don't need to pay attention to this. But there are cases where it doesn't do the right thing automatically.

  • If you update the system's header files, such as by installing a new system version, the fixed header files of GCC are not automatically updated. They can be updated using the mkheaders script installed in libexecdir/gcc/target/version/install-tools/