Nah.... sorry guys.
I didn't really do the rm thing. I was just trying to give WizenedEE the guilts for encouraging me to be gung-ho (in a good natured way).
I thank him for his input and levity.
But getting back to the original question....
Regarding cr0sh and picos posts, I renamed the bin directory "binold" and am now using the Ubuntu 4.5.3 compiler. It produces an executable a few hundred bytes smaller (for one of my sketches) than the arduino compiler. Coupled with what I assume to be other improvements in efficiency and bug fixes that newer versions bring, I would like to stick with it.
Any other views that I am going to have compatibility problems? All seems well at these early stages.