[derefr]

Presumably we're talking, here, about relying on GCC as part of the build-process of a package or script you're trying to deploy to this system.

If you don't have execute permissions, then, well, you're not going to be "installing" any software in any practical sense—you might be able to compile sources or copy files around, but you can't make the resulting binaries executable. Nor are you going to be doing much software development, for the same reason.

So why, at that point, would you need a compiler to exist on the box? It'd be like having GCC in a busybox installation.

[pjmlp]

Yes you will be doing software development, but only for what matters to your employer and nothing else.

Savy UNIX IT can take care of it, apparently the experience of what meant working in UNIX shops with thin terminals is now lost.