diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 884824caf..0176bbbae 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ linux-2.6 (3.1.0-1~experimental.1) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
 
   [ Bastian Blank ]
   * Use xz compression for debug packages.
+  * Make gcc-4.6 the default compiler.
 
  -- Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>  Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:02:56 +0100
 
diff --git a/debian/config/defines b/debian/config/defines
index e0a0bdef9..378696650 100644
--- a/debian/config/defines
+++ b/debian/config/defines
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ arches:
  sh4
  sparc
  sparc64
-compiler: gcc-4.5
+compiler: gcc-4.6
 featuresets:
  none
  rt
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ type: plain
 # compilers
 gcc-4.4: gcc-4.4
 gcc-4.5: gcc-4.5
+gcc-4.6: gcc-4.6
 
 # initramfs-generators
 initramfs-fallback: linux-initramfs-tool