How to link to a new gcc version with brew?

Question

I just got a new gcc version by running brew update and brew upgrade. brew complained that brew link did not complete successfully:

~
✓  brew upgrade
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package, with result:
gcc 4.8.2_1
==> Upgrading gcc
==> Downloading https://downloads.sf.net/project/machomebrew/Bottles/gcc-4.8.2_1
######################################################################## 100,0%
==> Pouring gcc-4.8.2_1.mavericks.bottle.tar.gz
Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully
The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local
You can try again using:
  brew link gcc

Possible conflicting files are:
/usr/local/bin/gfortran -> /usr/local/Cellar/gfortran/4.8.2/bin/gfortran
/usr/local/share/man/man1/gfortran.1 -> /usr/local/Cellar/gfortran/4.8.2/share/man/man1/gfortran.1 

So I ran brew link gcc manually:

~
✓  brew link gcc
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/gcc/4.8.2... 25 symlinks created

Now when I tell brew to clean up I get the following warning:

~
✓  brew cleanup
Warning: Skipping (old) /usr/local/Cellar/gcc/4.8.2 due to it being linked

There are two gcc version in my Cellar:

~
✓  ls /usr/local/Cellar/gcc
4.8.2   4.8.2_1

Do I need both? I would like to remove the old version. How can I achieve that?

Answer 1

I solved it by running the following commands

brew unlink gcc
brew rm gfortran
brew cleanup
brew link gcc

It seems that gfortran was linked to the old gcc version.