If you can cross-compile to this build target, so can an attacker. Maybe removing compilers made sense ten or twenty years ago, or on obscure/proprietary system

If you can cross-compile to this build target, so can an attacker. Maybe removing compilers made sense ten or twenty years ago, or on obscure/proprietary systems--plenty of exploits in old editions of Phrack use local compilers--but I don't really see the point nowadays. [edit] That said, standardization will make your life much easier. If you've got varying libraries between systems, tracking down problems is tougher.