diff --git a/base/gcc/config-550.in b/base/gcc/config-550.in
index 75ba52acc..3f314e05c 100644
--- a/base/gcc/config-550.in
+++ b/base/gcc/config-550.in
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ if pkgcheck "gcc" X; then
 		bool 'Build the F77 compiler' SDECFG_PKG_GCC_F77 1
 		bool 'Build the OBJC compiler' SDECFG_PKG_GCC_OBJC 1
 		comment ' '
+		bool 'Build version specific runtime libraries' \
+					SDECFG_PKG_GCC_VERSION_LIBS 0
 		bool 'Build the pre-compiled header (PCH) for libstdc++' \
 					SDECFG_PKG_GCC_CXX_PCH 0 
 	menu_end
diff --git a/base/gcc/gcc.conf b/base/gcc/gcc.conf
index 08c263714..59e667840 100644
--- a/base/gcc/gcc.conf
+++ b/base/gcc/gcc.conf
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ var_append confopt ' ' '--disable-checking'
 # we build a cross compiler in stage0 and later use known good GCCs, no bstrap
 var_append confopt ' ' '--disable-bootstrap'
 
+# build version specific runtime libraries (default 0)
+# needed if multiple versions of gcc are installed
+[ "$SDECFG_PKG_GCC_VERSION_LIBS" = 1 ] && \
+	var_append confopt " " "--enable-version-specific-runtime-libs"
+
 # build pre-compiled header (PCH) for libstdc++ (default 0)
 [ "$SDECFG_PKG_GCC_CXX_PCH" = 1 ] || \
 		var_append confopt ' ' "--disable-libstdcxx-pch"
@@ -110,7 +115,6 @@ else
 	var_append confopt " " "--with-gnu-as"
 	var_append confopt " " "--with-gnu-ld"
 	var_append confopt " " "--enable-threads=posix"
-	var_append confopt " " "--enable-version-specific-runtime-libs"
 
 	if [ "$SDECFG_PKG_GCC_JAVA" != 1 ] ; then
 		var_append confopt " " "--disable-libgcj"