gcc compilation terminated with "fatal error: string: No such file or directory #include <string>"

My situation. uname -a gives Linux computer2 4.4.0-62-generic #83~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 18 18:10:30 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux I am trying to install **HDF5 1.8.18** with **GNU make 3.81** invoking **gcc 6.3.0**. I have successfully installed this gcc 6.3.0 alongside the version 4.8.4 that is shipped with the Ubuntu distribution. My gcc 6.3.0 lives in /opt/gcc/6_3_0/. I use the following script to configure and pass on the commands, libraries and headers in non-standard directories: export FC='/opt/gcc/6_3_0/bin/gfortran-6.3.0' # probably unnecessary export CC='/opt/gcc/6_3_0/bin/gcc-6.3.0' export CXX='/opt/gcc/6_3_0/bin/g++-6.3.0' export CPP='/opt/gcc/6_3_0/bin/cpp-6.3.0' export LDFLAGS='-L/opt/gcc/6_3_0/lib -L/opt/gcc/6_3_0/lib64' export CPPFLAGS='-I/opt/gcc/6_3_0/include -I/opt/gcc/6_3_0/lib/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/6.3.0/include' ./configure \ --prefix=${insdir} \ --with-zlib=${zlibdir}/include,${zlibdir}/lib \ --enable-fortran \ --enable-cxx where ${insdir} is an installation directory, ${zlibdir} is where zlib lives and the other switches are standards as per the [installation guidelines](https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/current18/src/unpacked/release_docs/INSTALL) The configure step goes well. The make step fails with the error: make: Entering directory `/hdf5-1.8.18/c++/src' CXX H5Exception.lo H5Exception.cpp:16:18: fatal error: string: No such file or directory #include ^ compilation terminated If I understand it correctly, some header file is missing, and of a basic nature. - Where should I get it from? - Is there any flaw in the names and values of the environment variables? StackExchange contains a host of [posts on this error](https://stackexchange.com/search?q=fatal+error%3A+string%3A+No+such+file+or+directory) , but they seem to be mostly related to coding exercises. My aim is not to edit codes, rather to compile source codes successfully with my vanilla gcc 6.3.0. **Updated question** In the light of the helpful comments and Thomas Dickey's answer below, it appears that a promising avenue is to install matching versions of libstdc++ and gcc. I have searched around in the [GCC website](https://gcc.gnu.org/install/configure.html) and it appears that one can configure gcc with the following switch > --enable-version-specific-runtime-libs > > Specify that runtime libraries should be installed in the compiler specific subdirectory (libdir/gcc) rather than the usual places. **In addition, libstdc++'s include files will be installed into libdir unless you overruled it by using --with-gxx-include-dir=dirname.** Using this option is particularly useful if you intend to use several versions of GCC in parallel. This is currently supported by libgfortran, libstdc++, and libobjc. - Is this pointing in the right direction? - Where would I be supposed to find the libstdc++'s include files that are distributed alongside the source of gcc, if this is switch is not used?