linker support on AIX 5.3

["Ed S. Peschko" <esp5 at pge dot com>]

All,

I was wondering exactly what linker support was available on AIX 5.3 for
using gcc.

Right now, I've got gcc version 4.1 (came shipped with the box) and it 
fails to compile smoothly with perl-5.8.8 modules, indeed doesn't compile
perl itself.

So - I tried building a compiler (still working on that one) and gnu ld,
until I noticed the following note on:

	http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-gnu.html

	'You cannot use the GNU linker on AIX as this will cause 
	 incorrectly linked binaries. By default, the AIX linker is 
         used when using GCC on AIX. You should only use the default 
         AIX linker.'

So - what is the state of linker support on AIX? I see the note was dated
2005, so maybe the issues that they raise are out of date, but it looks
from my experience that the *native* linker doesn't work with gcc very 
well either, at least to build various OSS packages.

So - what's the state of linker support on AIX?

Thanks much, 

Ed