The traditional answer to outdated libraries on clusters is to install them in a non-standard location and use Environment Modules[0] to select which libraries

The traditional answer to outdated libraries on clusters is to install them in a non-standard location and use Environment Modules[0] to select which libraries to use. Modules are a common tool since clusters have big user bases with lots of different needs, so you almost always have to have multiple versions of some libraries available. The classic example is keeping multiple MPI implementations around; but I know scientists who keep multiple versions of several libraries in their home directories depending on which apps they want to use, and just select the right module groups. That said, I've never tried this with anything as fundamental as libc... [0] http://modules.sourceforge.net/ http://modules.sourceforge.net/