gcc 2.96 is not a real release, more of a redhat branch off the
3.0 dev tree
that gnu disavows. There are notes somewhere about this but I couldn't quickly find the link.
Which is understandable from their point of view, keeping the user base at a certain level to gain reliable input. On the other hand back when Redhat started using gcc 2.96, it was the only compiler that was actually usable on most no-x86 platforms. (This does not apply for the first release they packed with their distribution, but anything later proved to be worlds better than gcc 2.95, i.e. on Alpha, Sparc, ... gcc 2.96 was also the first compiler to support Itanium)
Thanks for the explanation. I think I got the first release of 2.96. Didn't work very well and caused quite a ruckus on the net. I've since stuck with debian without problems, but I only compile for x86.
-Steve