🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm having a problem installing gcc 2.7.2 on a Linux system.  After
ftping the gcc package installation files from tsx.mit.edu in
/pub/linux/packages/GCC, I follow the directions given in the
release.* files and I encounter a linker problem in subsequent
compilations.  I may have read the instructions wrong, and I suspect
that it is the following instuctions from release.binutils-2.6.0.2
that I have gotten wrong:

> Most of the modifications in binutils 2.5.2l.20 are in here except
> for the support of libxxxx.so.x.y.z since it may not work under
> all ELF systems. You have to make a right symlink to libxxxx.so.x.y.z
> from libxxxx.so when you install libxxxx and if there is none for the
> existing shared library , i.e.,
> 
> # ln -sf libxxxx.so.x.y.z libxxxx.so
> 
> That release is only intended for an ELF based system. You also
> need libc 5.2.15 and gcc 2.7.2 or above.

The reason that I think I've done this part wrong is because an
execution of the compiler for an executable that needs, say, the X11
library which is a DLL library rather than an ELF library on my system
will yield the following error:

> ld: cannot open -lX11: No such file or directory

This occurs even though I've specified the path using
"-L/usr/X11R6/lib" which is where the library is on my Linux system.
I didn't follow the release file's instructions at first, and then
when I tried to follow them, it still didn't work.  I have the feeling
that I have either followed then incorrectly, or I should never have
followed them and the problem is somewhere else.
 
So the main questions I have are:

i) What might I have done wrong?
ii) Is it necessary to install the new binutils to use gcc 2.7.2?
iii) Can I build gcc from scratch so that I don't have to worry about
     ELF libraries?

By the way, if anyone is interested in explaining to me what the
difference between .a .sa and .so libraries are, I would greatly
appreciate it.  I know that they have something to do with being
shared or not, but I've never had anyone spell it out in a concrete
way.  Thanks,

Peter.