Before you can use the Ringing Class Library, you will need to have a copy of the Standard Template Library (STL) which works with your compiler. The STL is a set of templates which define containers such as lists and sets, iterators to move through them, and various other useful things. If your compiler complains about not being able to find files such as vector.h and list.h then this probably means that you don't have the STL and need to get hold of it.
A suitable version of the STL is included with most major C++ compilers. If you don't have a working version, you may be able to download one: in particular, there is a free implementation of the STL available currently at http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl. Implementations differ slightly in how the header files are named and whether namespaces are used. If you are compiling the Ringing Class Library on a Unix-like platform, the configuration process should take care of finding out how your particular implementation works. Otherwise, you will need to edit the file ringing/common.h.in before compiling.