In Mathematica’s LibraryLink package and CCompilerDriver package, you have the option to choose a specific compiler. This would enable you to use future release of gcc/intel/llvm for test or the legacy version for compatibility. Here is an quick example:
On my OS X 10.11.2, I have a default clang at /usr/local/bin and several other compilers from Macports.
To use any of them in Mathematica, I can load this package first:
Needs["CCompilerDriver`"]
The default setting of the compiler list is
CCompilers[Full] // TableForm
I can set the global keyword $CCompiler with the following value:
$CCompiler = {"Name" -> "Clang",
"Compiler" -> CCompilerDriver`ClangCompiler`ClangCompiler,
"CompilerInstallation" -> "/opt/local/bin/clang-mp-3.6",
"CompilerName" -> Automatic};
I use this simple example from the documentation of CreateExecutable plus "ShellCommandFunction" -> Print so that I can see the cascaded build command. Use the Import["!"] to pass result back to front end with unix pipe:
