A reasonable tar to unpack the distribution. GNU tar is known to work. If you only have gcc 2.7.x, you must upgrade your gcc to be able to compile MySQL . A good make program.
GNU make is always recommended and is sometimes required.
If you have problems, we recommend trying GNU make 3.75 or newer. Even if the problem isn't a bug, mysqlbug gathers system information that will help others solve your problem. If you start from a source RPM, then do the following. This will make a binary RPM that you can install. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the distribution, and move into it.