[gentoo-user] Gentoo as a production server - insecure?

[Johannes Frandsen <jsf@imento.dk>]

I got in to a discussion about which server to recommend for running  
the php5 symfony framework, and I recommended Gentoo as I had been  
using it my self for a couple of years and have been very satisfied  
with it.
Somebody pointed out that having a productions server with a gcc  
installed was a big no no security wise, so I did a bit of goggling on  
that topic and found a couple of articles supporting that view.

Maybe I'm just ill informed, but I can't really see the big problem  
here. Sure if there is a gcc compiler installed you can recompile  
everything to your hearts content, but you still need to get access to  
the server first. And if you have server access you can install gcc on  
any distribution. Even openbsd (to my knowledge) comes with gcc  
bundled and they claim to be the most secure *nix available.

Im using the gentoo hardened profile for my production servers with a  
lamp stack and have considered them reasonably secure, but am I wrong  
in assuming this?

Joe