Sources for 5.0.0beta

[Chris Date]

I want to build OORexx 5.0.0beta for Debian 32-bit and 64-bit, as neither is on Sourceforge, but where do I find the sources?

Chris

[Rony]

On 04.08.2020 17:48, Chris Date wrote:
> I want to build OORexx 5.0.0beta for Debian 32-bit and 64-bit, as neither is on Sourceforge, but where do I find the sources?

Here is the homepage of the ooRexx project on Sourceforge:
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/oorexx/>, which is run by the non-profit SIG "Rexx Language
Association" <http://www.rexxla.org>.


The root of all the sources are at: <https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/code-0/HEAD/tree/>.

The source code of ooRexx is at: <https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/code-0/HEAD/tree/main/trunk/>, if
you look closely you will see a field labeled "SSH HTTPS RO Read/Write SSH access" with the svn
checkout string you should use to check out all of the sources on your machine.

The build is CMake based, just read the readme "CMake-build-readme.txt" or at
<https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/code-0/HEAD/tree/main/trunk/CMake-build-readme.txt>.

The current release is r12001.

Please report back, if success/problem/error.

---rony

[Chris Date]

Thanks, Rony. When I next feel like banging my head against a wall, I'll give it a try.

Debian Linux now has no Rexx in its repositories, since the current version dropped Regina. That's tragic. Running Rexx is hard work these days.

Chris

[Rony]

On 06.08.2020 18:04, Chris Date wrote:
> Thanks, Rony. When I next feel like banging my head against a wall, I'll give it a try.

Usually it works out smoothly...

> Debian Linux now has no Rexx in its repositories, since the current version dropped Regina. That's tragic. Running Rexx is hard work these days.

Hmm, do you know the reason for this?

Also do you know by any chance what is needed to get ooRexx in its repositories?

Anyone lending a helping hend? :)

---rony

[Chris Date]

I have no experience of Debian development, but I would start at https://mentors.debian.net

The first paragraph of that page says this:

"Only approved members of the Debian project (Debian Developers) are granted the permission to upload software packages into the Debian distribution. Still a large number of packages is maintained by non-official developers. How do they get their work into Debian when they are not allowed to upload their own packages directly? By means of a process called sponsorship. Sponsorship means that a Debian Developer uploads the package on behalf of the actual maintainer. The Debian Developer will also check the package for technical correctness and help the maintainer to improve the package if necessary. Therefore the sponsor is sometimes also called a mentor."

Regina Rexx always used to be in Debian but it disappeared when Debian 10 was released. I don't know why.

Chris

[Andy McMenemy]

I think that even if the package isn't in a standard repository it can still be fairly easily installed if we have a ".deb" package. This can then be downloaded and installed with a dpkg -i
Andy

[Chris Date]

<< I think that even if the package isn't in a standard repository it can still be fairly easily installed if we have a ".deb" package. >>

That's true. However, the only OORexx 5.0.0beta .deb files are compiled for Ubuntu and Raspbian, neither of which I would trust to work with Debian. Both are derivatives of Debian, not the real thing.

It's the same with Regina Rexx, which only has Ubuntu .debs.

Hence my desire to compile them myself.

Like many people, I use Debian for its stability. This is a product of its development cycle, whereby each package passes through the Unstable and Testing branches before acceptance into the Stable release. Ideally, I wouldn't want to install anything that isn't from Debian Stable. Compiling from source is the next best thing, though still an imperfect solution. The alternative is to stop using Rexx.

Chris

[Rony]

The Debian builds of ooRexx, either 32 or 64 bit, uses the CMake definitions for Debian and just
happen mostly on Ubuntu. As such they should work on Debian and then use the shared libraries of
Debian, independent on which Linux the interpreter got created.

Just consult "CMake-build-readme.txt" and try to create the ooRexx interpreter. The CMake control
file that covers the building of ooRexx for all supported distributions/platforms is
"CMakeLists.txt". If you do not have cmake installed yet, then issue something like "apt-get install
cmake".

Just try it out: if everything goes fine you should have the latest ooRexx built in less than a
minute! E.g. after downloading the sources (e.g. to "~/dev/oorexx"), create some "~/work/oorexx"
directory, switch to it and issue the commands (as per the directions in CMake-build-readme.txt):

cmake -DBUILD_DEB=1 -DOS_DIST=debian-X-Y ~/dev/oorexx/main/trunk
... the above will check out your build environment and creates CMake definitions for the project

make
... the above will use the CMake definitions and create the interpreter
... you could issue "bin/rexx -v" to get the version information from the freshly built interpreter

cpack ./
... the above will create the deb package that you can then use to install the interpreter with
dpkg -i (do not forget to uninstall any previously installed interpreter with "dpkg -r oorexx")


Also note, the latest versions of ooRexx 5 allow to run different versions of the ooRexx interpreter
with different bitnesses at the same time on the same machine without interfering with each other,
quite some cool feature! :)

Should there be any problems or showstoppers than please do not hesitate and report them and/or ask
for explicit help.

There is at least one outspoken Debian expert (Enrico Sorichetti) hanging out on the ooRexx
developer list who has been extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

Here the link to the ooRexx mailing lists: <https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/mailman/>.
Here the link to the developer mailing list archive:
<https://sourceforge.net/p/oorexx/mailman/oorexx-devel>. Do not hesitate to ask questions there!


---rony

[Rony]

On 07.08.2020 16:01, Chris Date wrote:

Just forwarded the announcement of a new version of BSF4ooRexx (the ooRexx bridge to/from Java),
which includes a temporary link to my DropBox that includes the latest (private) builds of ooRexx
5.0 r12104 for Linux (32- and 64-bit: DEB, RPM, stick), MacOSX (64-bit: stick, BSF4ooRexx for MacOSX
includes everything), and Windows (32- and 64-bit: installation package, stick).

Either test the stick version (unzip and then set PATH to the "bin" directory) or install using the
installer for your platform (deb in your case).

---rony

[Chr...@gmx.co.uk]

That was just too easy. No sense of achievement when it's all a breeze, a piece of cake. Where's the challenge?

Yes, I compiled and installed OORexx r12110 on both 32 and 64-bit machines, under Debian 10. No problems at all.

Many thanks for the pointers, Rony.

All the best,
Chris