The GNU Compiler Collection will be refreshed with updated C++ standards compliance and improvements in parallelism and diagnostics.

Described as a "major" release, GCC 6.1 leverages the C++ 14 standard, which was approved in 2014. "The C++ front end now defaults to the C++ 14 standard, instead of C++98, [which] it has been defaulting to previously," said Jakub Jelinek, a Red Hat consulting engineer and a co-release manager of GCC, in a bulletin.

Also, experimental support for C++17, which is due later this year, has been enhanced in GCC 6.1. GNU is offering instructions for developers who still may need to use older versions of C++. GCC 6.1, a free software update, is available from FTP servers.

GCC has front ends and libraries for languages, including C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, Ada, and Go. Version 6.1 features backing for the OpenMP 4.5 specification for multiplatform programming in C/C++ and Fortran. In addition, the compiler can be configured for OpenMP offloading to Intel Xeon Phi Knights Landing and AMD HSAIL processors. The new version also improves support for OpenACC 2.0a, Nvidia's specification for directives-based programming.

Emitted diagnostics are improved in GCC 6.1, including improved locations, location ranges, and suggestions for misspelled identifiers. It also features fix-it hints and new warnings.