diff --git a/lib/librte_pmd_fm10k/Makefile b/lib/librte_pmd_fm10k/Makefile
index 986f4ef..2902d64 100644
--- a/lib/librte_pmd_fm10k/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_pmd_fm10k/Makefile
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ else
 #
 # CFLAGS for gcc
 #
-ifneq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -le 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -le 3 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -ge 440 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS     += -Wno-deprecated
 endif
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER = -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-unused-value
diff --git a/lib/librte_pmd_i40e/Makefile b/lib/librte_pmd_i40e/Makefile
index 9a0eec8..484379a 100644
--- a/lib/librte_pmd_i40e/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_pmd_i40e/Makefile
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER += -Wno-pointer-to-int-cast
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER += -Wno-format-nonliteral
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER += -Wno-format-security
 
-ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -ge 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -ge 4 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -ge 440 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER += -Wno-unused-but-set-variable
 endif
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/Makefile b/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/Makefile
index 0279f8c..ab56cbf 100644
--- a/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_pmd_ixgbe/Makefile
@@ -60,18 +60,18 @@ else
 #
 # CFLAGS for gcc
 #
-ifneq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -le 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -le 3 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -ge 440 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS     += -Wno-deprecated
 endif
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER = -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-unused-value
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER += -Wno-strict-aliasing -Wno-format-extra-args
 
-ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -ge 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -ge 6 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -ge 460 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS_ixgbe_common.o += -Wno-unused-but-set-variable
 CFLAGS_ixgbe_x550.o += -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wno-maybe-uninitialized
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -le 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -le 6 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -le 460 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS_ixgbe_x550.o += -Wno-uninitialized
 CFLAGS_ixgbe_phy.o += -Wno-uninitialized
 endif
diff --git a/lib/librte_pmd_vmxnet3/Makefile b/lib/librte_pmd_vmxnet3/Makefile
index 93e5580..9dda0a7 100644
--- a/lib/librte_pmd_vmxnet3/Makefile
+++ b/lib/librte_pmd_vmxnet3/Makefile
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ else
 #
 # CFLAGS for gcc
 #
-ifneq ($(shell test $(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION) -le 4 -a $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -le 3 && echo 1), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -ge 440 && echo 1), 1)
 CFLAGS     += -Wno-deprecated
 endif
 CFLAGS_BASE_DRIVER = -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-unused-value
diff --git a/mk/toolchain/gcc/rte.toolchain-compat.mk b/mk/toolchain/gcc/rte.toolchain-compat.mk
index e40e103..a867559 100644
--- a/mk/toolchain/gcc/rte.toolchain-compat.mk
+++ b/mk/toolchain/gcc/rte.toolchain-compat.mk
@@ -38,17 +38,15 @@
 
 #find out GCC version
 
-GCC_MAJOR_VERSION = $(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | cut -f1 -d.)
+GCC_VERSION = $(subst .,,$(shell $(CC) -dumpversion))
 
-# if GCC is not 4.x
-ifneq ($(GCC_MAJOR_VERSION),4)
+# if GCC is older than 4.x
+ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 400 && echo 1), 1)
 	MACHINE_CFLAGS =
-$(warning You are not using GCC 4.x. This is neither supported, nor tested.)
+$(warning You are using GCC < 4.x. This is neither supported, nor tested.)
 
 
 else
-	GCC_MINOR_VERSION = $(shell $(CC) -dumpversion | cut -f2 -d.)
-
 # GCC graceful degradation
 # GCC 4.2.x - added support for generic target
 # GCC 4.3.x - added support for core2, ssse3, sse4.1, sse4.2
@@ -57,18 +55,18 @@ else
 # GCC 4.6.x - added support for corei7, corei7-avx
 # GCC 4.7.x - added support for fsgsbase, rdrnd, f16c, core-avx-i, core-avx2
 
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -le 7 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -le 470 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=core-avx-i,-march=corei7-avx,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=core-avx2,-march=core-avx2,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 	endif
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -lt 6 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 460 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=corei7-avx,-march=core2 -maes -mpclmul -mavx,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=corei7,-march=core2 -maes -mpclmul,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 	endif
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -lt 5 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 450 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=atom,-march=core2 -mssse3,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 	endif
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -lt 4 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 440 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(filter-out -mavx -mpclmul -maes,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 		ifneq ($(findstring SSE4_2, $(CPUFLAGS)),)
 			MACHINE_CFLAGS += -msse4.2
@@ -77,12 +75,12 @@ else
 			MACHINE_CFLAGS += -msse4.1
 		endif
 	endif
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -lt 3 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 430 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(filter-out -msse% -mssse%,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(patsubst -march=core2,-march=generic,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS += -msse3
 	endif
-	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_MINOR_VERSION) -lt 2 && echo 1), 1)
+	ifeq ($(shell test $(GCC_VERSION) -lt 420 && echo 1), 1)
 		MACHINE_CFLAGS := $(filter-out -march% -mtune% -msse%,$(MACHINE_CFLAGS))
 	endif
 endif
