Some SAS tasks require the use of specific external tools. The following Table provides the list of these tools.
| Tool | Latest tested version | Web page | Other requirements |
| ds9 | 6.2 | ds9 web page | xpa 2.1.13 (same ds9 web page) |
| Grace | 5.1.22 | Grace web page | To build it from source code, it requires either Motif or Lesstif libraries and include files. |
| Heasoft | 6.9 | Heasoft web page | Suffcient to download binaries. |
Assuming you have already some perl binary as /usr/bin/perl, to create a soft link /usr/local/bin/perl, you may proceed as follows:
ln -s /usr/bin/perl /usr/local/bin/perl
To work with SAS on Mac OS X we need to have the X Windows or X11 software installed. This software is included by default on any Mac OS X installation DVD under the subdirectory of Optional Installs, under Applications. Alternately you may install it from the Fink repository of Mac OS X software, available on this link. If you choose this option, you must deinstall the X11 software from Apple or at least move it away of /usr/X11. Refer to this document for details.