How to stop GCC from searching for components in --prefix on Windows host?

["E. Weddington" <ericw@evcohs.com>]

Hello!

I regularly build GCC for the AVR target on a Windows host 
(--host=mingw32) usually with some configured --prefix=X. The binary 
toolset is redistributed to other users who typically don't install it 
in X. There have been some problems where X on the build machine is on a 
particular drive, and on the install machine X is on a drive with 
removable media, then GCC sometimes craps out and doesn't properly 
locate all the components. Is there some way to get GCC to *not* search 
for components in the configured prefix, but preserve its other search 
rules?

In looking through the manual, I found the GCC_EXEC_PREFIX environment 
variable. Though some users have reported that using this doesn't 
completely solve the problem (and personally I'm not totally convinced 
that it doesn't solve the problem). Is it correct that using 
GCC_EXEC_PREFIX will cause GCC to look there first and then continue 
with the rest of the search (--prefix, PATH, etc.)?

Is there something in the manuals that I'm overlooking?

If it requires patching the source, then could someone point out which 
source code module/functions to take a look at?


(Please CC me in your reply as it's difficult for me to reply to digest 
versions of the gcc list that I receive.)

Thanks for your time and help.
Eric