General :: What Versions Of G++ And Gcc Come Standard With RHEL 5.3

I ran into an issue that was written up here on LQ and/or on other sites, the one dealing with an error similar to the following one: error trying to exec 'cc1plus': execvp: No such file or directoryThe solution seems is to make g++ and gcc versions consistent. I've since remedied that, but am slightly confused with my findings and concerned with my solution.

When I first looked in /usr/bin for all references to g++ and gcc, I saw that there were two version of gcc and one version of g++:

(Note the "??? ?? ????" as date for gcc. I've since made some changes, but this was essentially the set of gcc and g++ files that existed before I started.)

I'm told that the system I'm using is an "out of the box" installation, i.e. no modifications. As installed, gcc is the newer version and does not correspond to g++34:

Confusion and concern: When I use makefiles from software I've adopted, I run into the cc1plus problem eluded to above. The cc1plus error occurred because the makefiles expected there to be a command named "g++," so I created a symbolic link, pointing /usr/bin/g++ -> /usr/bin/g++34. And in doing so, g++ was not consistent with gcc. I've since fixed that, i.e. copied the gcc34 version to gcc and my software builds fine.

My question are:

1. Will copying the gcc34 version to gcc cause issues in the future, possibly related to upgrades and/or istallations of other packages that rely on "gcc"? Currently the files are as follows:

2. Were the g++ and gcc files in /usr/bin the "out of the box" versions?

3. How can I answer a question like this in the future, without posting to LQ, i.e. is there a reference to find this type of information?