ooRexx — Installing and Running

This skill targets ooRexx 5.3.0beta. It was written and tested against that release branch. The version is pinned on purpose: the SourceForge layout and the official download page are not dependable enough to automate a "latest version" lookup, and a newer major/minor line may behave differently. The build within that branch is not pinned — use the most recent build of 5.3.0beta unless the user asks for a specific one. If you need a different version entirely, adjust the steps accordingly.

Environment note. This skill is consumed by more than one project. The download and verification steps are universal; the Linux distribution (ubuntu2404 below) and the fallback upload path are environment-specific — substitute the values that match the machine you are installing on.

Installation

ooRexx is installed from an official .deb published by the Rexx Language Association on SourceForge.

Choose the build and the matching package. In the 5.3.0beta folder on SourceForge — https://sourceforge.net/projects/oorexx/files/oorexx/5.3.0beta/ — pick the .deb for your distribution and architecture with the most recent build number (rNNNNN), unless the user requested a specific build, in which case use that one. Within this single pinned folder the files are all the same version, so "most recent build" is unambiguous (sort by date) — this is safe in a way that picking the folder itself is not. The filename has the form oorexx-5.3.0-<build>.<distro>.<arch>.deb, e.g. oorexx-5.3.0-13169.ubuntu2404.x86_64.deb. Confirm your distro with cat /etc/os-release if unsure.
Download from the direct mirror, not the /download redirector. SourceForge's /download URL returns an HTML interstitial page (~130 KB of HTML, not the binary). Use the master.dl.sourceforge.net mirror with a browser user-agent (substitute the filename you chose in step 1):
```
curl -L -f -A "Mozilla/5.0" -o /tmp/oorexx.deb \
  "https://master.dl.sourceforge.net/project/oorexx/oorexx/5.3.0beta/oorexx-5.3.0-13169.ubuntu2404.x86_64.deb?viasf=1"
```
Verify it's really a .deb before installing (catches the case where you got an HTML error page instead):
```
file /tmp/oorexx.deb            # → "Debian binary package"
dpkg-deb -I /tmp/oorexx.deb     # → Package: oorexx, Version: 5.3.0
```
If file reports HTML, the download served an error page rather than the binary — recheck the URL.
Install: dpkg -i /tmp/oorexx.deb

Fallback (network blocked, e.g. proxy 403). Ask the user to upload the .deb and install from the upload — adjusting the path to wherever uploads land in your environment (in Claude's container that is /mnt/user-data/uploads/): dpkg -i /path/to/uploads/oorexx-*.deb.

Verify the interpreter runs: rexx -v → Open Object Rexx Version 5.3.0.

Running programs

Scripts: rexx script.rex [args...]

To check that a .cls loads without errors: rexx -e "Call 'path/to/file.cls'"

Dependency lookup (::Requires)

ooRexx searches in this order: 1. Directory of the program that issues the ::Requires 2. Current directory 3. Directories in REXX_PATH 4. Directories in PATH

This allows referencing dependencies in the same directory without a path.

To add a directory: export REXX_PATH="/path/to/libs"

Common errors

"rexx: command not found" — .deb not installed. dpkg -i.
"Error 43: Routine not found" — a ::Requires is missing. Check that the .cls exists at the expected path.
"Error 98: Execution error" — a ::Requires failed to load. Read the full error, it usually includes the failing path.
Shared library errors — apt-get install -f.