Apr 22 Tcl Meetup notes

Tcl Meetup, 2022-04-12

Possible topics:

  • single file distributions "blessed" by the community (i.e. tclkits of some form) - stevel
    • the goal is a downloads page with links for common platforms
      • make it easier for people to get the latest Tcl/Tk on common platforms
      • include alpha and beta releases to get more people testing we move towards 8.7/9.0 since they won't need to build Tcl/Tk themselves
    • single file executable to make it easier to try / remove
      • this doesn't preclude installers and platform specific app bundles
      • perhaps have a standard option that gets the single file distro to install itself in a platform standard way (allowing you to run as a single file to try, and install for better performance or less platform friction)
    • a lite version containing just Tcl/Tk and a batteries included version with common extensions
      • what extensions should be in a BI version?
      • SQLite, tablelist, tcllib, tklib, tdom, others - e.g. everything in Magicsplat and Androwish (need to avoid including stuff that isn't actually useful or actively used)
    • what technology for the VFS? zip / xvfs / SQLite / whatever?
      • keen for rkeene to comment on xvfs
      • rz has done a lot with zipkits on Tcl 8.7
      • what about drh's ideas on using SQLite
    • code signing for both Tcl/Tk and apps deployed using it
      • apn mentioned Authenticode on Windows
      • rz mentioned the Euro meeting mentioned the need to attach app code to a tclkit and sign it
    • need to consider dkf's work on continuous integration which builds tclkits
    • JCW has provided a pure Tcl metakit reader ReadKit which could be used to provide backwards compatibility with existing starkits that use Metakit

rz - 2022-04-12 05:50:04

State of the art for tcl/tk8.7a5 for me:

  • you can build zip based tclkits. Just compile with "--disable-shared". The resulting tclsh and wish are tclkits.
  • To add your own stuff, put it in a directory and use a file "main.tcl" as starting point.
  • Under windows use "zip -r -q <tclsh or wish> *"
  • Under Unix use "zip ../t.zip * ; cd ..; cat t.zip >> <tclsh or wish> ; zip -A <tclsh or wish>"

arjen - 2022-04-12 09:51:03

I would like to bring up a general topic: besides tclkits, what other development and deployment tools would be beneficial? (I am jealous of those IDEs you see all over the place, like Pycharm, even if I tend not to use them myself, at least not for coding). As the time is very unfavourable to me, I will not attend this meeting.

stevel tools such as TclProDebug, Eskil, Nagelfar etc come to mind. Perhaps Critcl. Others? Perhaps these could be combined into a "developer" download?

chw the stuffs described in LUCK (i.e. the vanillawishes for various platforms) have some development tools integrated, e.g. parts of Tcl Dev Kit, ASED, Visual Tcl, and TkSQLite.

SEH I've been using alited and it's pretty nice.

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Followups

  • stevel to follow up on XVFS with Sean and Roy
  • use CloudTk for a Tcl playground accessible via the wiki for code snippets, similar to the Go Playground Jeff Smith? rkeene mentioned his existing Tcl Playground - this could be used to add interactive code to other websites e.g. the wiki tutorial
  • Brian Griffin's mkapp script which takes a BI tclkit and app code and makes a starpack containing the app and just those extensions used by the app.
  • liaise with chw and apn on the extensions they use in their distros and come up with unified set
  • stevel to contact dkf and find out the state / status of the tclkits used in the continuous integration
  • for a future meeting, discuss repositories