A full SICStus installation requires a C compiler and a linker to perform final link steps on the installation machine.
For Mac OS X you can download Xcode, which contains a C compiler, from the App Store. Linux distributions typically has a C compiler installed or installable through the system software update utility.
If a C compiler is not available, then it is possible to use a prebuilt installation on some platforms.
If it is not enabled by default, then
prebuilt installation is only recommended as a last resort; it is
available
by invoking
InstallSICStus with the --prebuilt argument.
A disadvantage with the prebuilt installation is that SICStus
libraries that interface to third-party products (Tcl/Tk, Berkeley DB,
Java, …) may not work, or may require environment variables such as
LD_LIBRARY_PATH to be set. Another disadvantage is that
spld and splfr may not work unless you manually adjust the
spld configure file. Of course, neither spld nor
splfr will work anyway if you do not have a C compiler.