Implementations
The official REBOL implementation is a proprietary, freely redistributable interpreter available in several editions (/Core, /View, /Command, /SDK and /IOS). Reverse engineering of the interpreter is forbidden by the license. Parts of the interpreter are open source. Example: the REBOL desktop is an open source part of the REBOL/View interpreter linking the REBOL community on the Internet. The runtime environment is currently stored in a single executable file. REBOL/Core, the console edition, is about 300kB and REBOL/View, the graphical user interface edition, is about 650kB in size. REBOL/View provides platform-independent graphics and sound access, and comes with its own windowing toolkit and extensible set of styles (GUI widgets). Extended editions, such as REBOL/Command or REBOL/SDK require a paid license; they add features like ODBC data access, and the option to create standalone executable files.
There are also free software / open source alternatives to the REBOL interpreter (or parts of it), which are written as implementations of REBOL dialects.
- Orca is "an interpreter for a REBOL-like language". Orca is written in C, but cannot be compiled without a REBOL interpreter being installed (Orca can be used when available).
- Boron is a C library which may be copied under the terms of the LGPLv3. It is an interpreter of a REBOL dialect. The Boron dialect is an interpreted, homoiconic language, which is meant for embedding domain specific languages.
- The Red/System compiler implements a REBOL dialect. It is currently bootstrapped using a REBOL interpreter and therefore needs a REBOL interpreter to run.
- The RebGUI dialect is an open alternative to REBOL/View's VID dialect for graphical user interfaces.
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