From gentoo-user  Mon Feb 06 21:44:53 2012
From: Nikos Chantziaras <realnc () arcor ! de>
Date: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:44:53 +0000
To: gentoo-user
Subject: [gentoo-user] Re: Out of memory during GCC compile
Message-Id: <jgphkr$3d4$1 () dough ! gmane ! org>
X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=gentoo-user&m=132856497725981

On 06/02/12 23:33, Grant wrote:
> I'm trying to compile GCC on a remote system with 192MB RAM.  It's
> completed successfully before but now it uses up all RAM.  The compile
> doesn't stop but it must be thrashing.  I have MAKEOPTS="-j1" in
> /etc/make.conf.  Am I jeopardizing my HD by letting it swap on the
> compile right now?  I've ordered an upgrade to the max of 512MB.  I've
> stopped all processes using up memory that I don't need including X.
> Is there anything else I can do to get through the compile with 192MB
> RAM?

Lowering optimization helps a lot (CFLAGS in make.conf).  For example 
-O1 or -Os instead of the standard -O2.