What is a plain stock compiler anyway? Certainly not gcc.
Linux already requires a specific version of a specific
compiler with a specific object file format. You simply
can't write kernel code with plain stock compilers.
You're confusing the issue. You need a version of gcc that's new enough
to avoid certain bug, but it's certainly not a "specific version of a
specific compiler". Yes, you have to configure it to support ELF as
opposed to a.out, but you don't need to apply specialized patches to
the compiler, which would be a major change in what's required to
compile the kernel.
- Ted