From /usr/ports/UPDATING:
So how do we select say gcc47 as our favorite compiler?
A new USES has been added: compiler.mk, this uses allows porters to
select a compiler for a given port based on the features the port needs
By default this will always try to find clang > 3.3.
If the user prefers using gcc then the following macro should be added
to user's make.conf: FAVORITE_COMPILER=gcc
So how do we select say gcc47 as our favorite compiler?