Yes. Worked always with Karmic. Worked yesterday with Lucid. But downloaded new gcc today, and new git. So it's one or the other.
b/ what does "gcc --version" produce?
gcc (Ubuntu 4.4.2-1ubuntu3) 4.4.2
c/ is this an incremental build from a previous build on karmic?
Yes. (In fact, it's pre-alpha lucid.) It may well be that there is a new gcc that depends on a new something else that hasn't been released yet.
Oh, that's a nice command. I'll have to remember that one. Nothing happens.
NOTE: You should still report this to gcc/Ubuntu.
Noted. Reported. Bug filed.
As I was getting ready to send this I noted another gcc floating by aptitude, so I gave that one a spin. No luck. The problem persists, but I bet the developers know about it.