FAQ

Q: Is ooRexx compatible with Rexx?

Yes!

Q: Can ooRexx run normal Rexx programs?

Yes!

Q: Is ooRexx compatible with IBM Object REXX?

Yes!

Q: Can ooRexx run IBM Object REXX programs?

Yes!

Q: Can I redistribute ooRexx freely with commercial software?

Yes!

Q: Where can I download ooRexx for my operating system?

You can get ooRexx by clicking or your platform and desired version via the Downloads Page or by choosing from the SourceForge Downloads Page which may be a little bit harder to navigate.

Q: How long does the install of ooRexx take?

30 seconds or less, depending on your hardware!

Q: Can I cleanly uninstall ooRexx?

Yes!

Q: Would I ever want to uninstall ooRexx?

Only if you are upgrading to a newer version.

Q: What is the difference between ooRexx and IBM's Object REXX for Windows?

IBM's Object REXX was available in two formats; an Interpreter Edition and a Development Edition. ooRexx will be available in one format which is half way between the two IBM offerings.

There will be no functional difference between the Object REXX and ooRexx interpreters; code written for Object REXX will work with ooRexx with the following minor exceptions related to product versioning:

  • The result from PARSE VERSION using the last version of Object REXX is: OBJREXX 6.00 dd mon yyyy The result from PARSE VERSION using the first version of ooRexx is: REXX-ooRexx(MT) 6.00 dd mon yyyy This change was done for two reasons; the first is that ooRexx is a different product, and the format of the result is now ANSI compliant.
  • The output from rexx -v using the last version of Object REXX released by IBM is: 
    IBM Object REXX Interpreter Version 2.1.3
Build date: Mar 31 2004
Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 1996, 2004. All Rights Reserved.
    The output from rexx -v using the 3.1.1 version of ooRexx for Linux is: 
    Open Object Rexx Interpreter Version 3.1.1 for LINUX
Build date: Nov 13 2006
Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 1995, 2004.
Copyright (c) RexxLA 2005-2006.
All Rights Reserved.
This program and the accompanying materials
are made available under the terms of the Common Public License v1.0
which accompanies this distribution.
http://www.oorexx.org/license.html

Due to licensing issues related to components of Object REXX, not all portions of the developer edition were made available to RexxLA. Therefore the following components are not available in ooRexx:

  • IBM Resource Workshop - This component allowed the user to create Windows-based dialogs for use by the OODialog component. Existing OODialog programs will still work with ooRexx, as the source to the runtime component of OODialog has been made available.
  • Object REXX Workbench - This component is the Object REXX IDE which allowed the user to write and debug Object REXX programs in an IDE.
  • rxftp function package - This component provided external functions to allow FTP sessions to be programatically controlled. ooRexx supplies a full (and more powerful) replacement in the form of the easy to use rxFtp class which is fully documented in the rxftp.pdf document or as an HTML document.

Q: What is the difference between ooRexx and IBM's Object REXX for Linux/Solaris/AIX?

Due to licensing issues mentioned above, the rxftp function package is not available. For this reason ooRexx supplies a full (and more powerful) replacement in the form of the easy to use rxFtp class which is fully documented in the rxftp.pdf document or as an HTML document.

The differences with the versioning details as described in the Windows differences above is also applicable to these ports.

Q: Is there an AIX version of ooRexx?

ooRexx for AIX is available starting with the 3.1 release.

Q: Why is there no OS/2 (eCS) port of ooRexx?

The source code provided to RexxLA was maintained by one group of IBM developers. The source code for OS/2 is maintained by a different group of IBM developers, and that source code base was not supplied to RexxLA.

Q: When will a port of ooRexx to "XYZ" be available?

Any POSIX-based, Un*x-like platform is likely to already be available in the source distribution due to the use of the autoconf toolset. If not, then support for the particular platform will need to be implemented in a future version of ooRexx.

Q: How can I help?

Now the initial release of ooRexx has been made and the source code made publically accessible via SourceForge's CVS servers, ooRexx Development Team, will be accepting submissions for changes and expanding the devlopment team with suitably enthusiastic and qualified developers to assist in the future development of ooRexx.