The binary distribution is nothing else as a full source distribution with precompiled client programs. Just follow the usual installation instructions. If you are going to develop new client programs, you must also meet all the prerequisits concerning installed C++ compiler too.

The binary distribution contains also the GMP and C++ run-time environment shared libraries. They will be installed locally in polymake tree if no compatible libraries will be found at your site; a warning will be issued. If your system configuration differs too much from ours, these libraries might turn out unusable (you will probably recognize it on ongoing program crashes.) Then you will have to install GMP and/or the gcc 3.1 or 3.1.1 yourself and delete the polymake's copies.

Note: The installation procedure copies all program binaries to the final destination; after it has completed, you can safely delete the whole unpacked tree.