Ctrl+Alt+T<\/code> on keyboard to launch a terminal window, then run command:<\/p>\nsudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r\/test<\/pre>\nType user password when it asks (no visual feedback, just type in mind) and hit Enter to continue.<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gcctool-ppa-700x374.webp\")
<\/p>\n
2.<\/b> If you follow this tutorial in Linux Mint, then either use Software Sources to add PPA, or run the command below to refresh cache after added the PPA.<\/p>\nsudo apt update<\/pre>\nWhile Ubuntu now automatically refresh cache when adding PPA via the add-apt-repository<\/code> command.<\/p>\n3.<\/b> Finally GCC 16 by running command:<\/p>\nsudo apt install gcc-16 g++-16<\/pre>\nFor choice, you may also install the ga68-16<\/code> Algol 68 compiler, gccgo-16<\/code> Go compiler, as well as other GNU compilers.<\/p>\nAnd, you may replace number 16<\/b> accordingly (to 15, 14, 13, etc) to install other GCC compiler versions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/apt-gcc16-700x516.webp\")
<\/p>\n
How to Use GCC 16<\/h3>\n
After installed the new version of GNU Compiler, you may run the similar command below to make use of it:<\/p>\n
CC=gcc-16 CXX=g++-16 cmake ..<\/pre>\nor use make CC=gcc-16 CXX=g++-16<\/code>.<\/p>\nOr, run the command below to set environment variables, to temporarily use GCC 16 in the current shell (until you close the terminal).<\/p>\n
export CC=gcc-16<\/pre>\nexport CXX=g++-16<\/pre>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/export-gcc16-700x516.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Set GCC 16 as default (Optional)<\/h3>\n
The last step shows you how to temporarily use GCC 16 in terminal. If you want, you can set GCC 16 as default compiler.<\/p>\n
1.<\/b> First, run the commands below to install GCC 16 as an alternative to default GCC\/G++:<\/p>\nsudo update-alternatives --install \/usr\/bin\/gcc gcc \/usr\/bin\/gcc-16 10<\/pre>\nsudo update-alternatives --install \/usr\/bin\/g++ g++ \/usr\/bin\/g++-16 10<\/pre>\n2.<\/b> Next, add the previous default GCC as alternatives:<\/p>\nsudo update-alternatives --install \/usr\/bin\/gcc gcc \/usr\/bin\/gcc-11 100<\/pre>\nsudo update-alternatives --install \/usr\/bin\/g++ g++ \/usr\/bin\/g++-11 100<\/pre>\nHere you need to replace number 11<\/b> depends on your previous default GCC version. It’s gcc-11 for 22.04, gcc-13 for 24.04, gcc-7 for 18.04.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/install-gccalternatives-700x237.webp\")
\n3.<\/b> Finally, run the commands below one by one to configure the default GCC:<\/p>\nsudo update-alternatives --config gcc<\/pre>\nsudo update-alternatives --config g++<\/pre>\nAnd you can re-run the last 2 commands at any time to restore the default GCC to the previous version.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/config-gcc-700x485.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Uninstall:<\/h3>\n
Before uninstalling GCC 16, re-run the last 2 commands and set the default GCC\/G++ to the previous default version.<\/p>\n
Then, run the command below to uninstall GCC 16:<\/p>\n
sudo apt remove --autoremove gcc-16 g++-16<\/pre>\nAnd, remove the PPA by running command:<\/p>\n
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r\/test<\/pre>\nFinally, refresh cache via sudo apt update<\/code>.<\/p>\nTips:<\/b> If you removed GCC 16, but the default version is not set back, then try running the commands below to restore:<\/p>\nsudo update-alternatives --set gcc \/usr\/bin\/gcc-11<\/pre>\nsudo update-alternatives --set g++ \/usr\/bin\/g++-11<\/pre>\nAlso, replace number 11<\/b> with 7 for 18.04, 13 for 24.04, 15 for 26.04.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install the GCC 16 compiler in Ubuntu 24.04 \/ Linux Mint 22.x, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and even the old Ubuntu 18.04. GCC 16 is so far the latest major version of the GNU Compiler Collection. It’s available in Ubuntu 26.04 repository but non-default.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2086],"class_list":["post-51868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howtos","tag-programming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gcc16-resolute-700x541.webp\")