The documentation on how to compile OpenORB 1.4.x is incorrect:
http://openorb.sourceforge.net/docs/1.4.0/OpenORB/doc/orb.html#ch_compile
It says that build.sh can be run without any options. This will result in an error. The build.sh script requires a parameter that tells the build.xml script which target to run. Namely:
/build.sh -Ddefault-target=<target>
where <target> is the build.xml target that you wish to run.