Binary Distributions

Binary Distributions of Tcl and Tk can be obtained from the sources listed below.

Description

It is important to consider the ramifications when using any binary distribution, including factors such as the license of the distribution itself.

If you are for some reason unable to easily compile and install the source code distribution, you may want to try out one of the publicly available binary distributions. These are compiled and made available by third parties. Your mileage may vary. When using one of these publically available binary distributions, there may very well be licensing issues over and beyond those of the underlying language, extensions and tools - all such licensing issues need to be carefully evaluated.

Multi-Platform

ActiveTcl: latest release: 8.6.3.1 as of 2015-04-03. A binary distribution of Tcl/Tk + commonly used extensions. ActiveState provides ActiveTcl, a binary distribution of Tcl, Tk, and a very large number of extensions, for free download. See http://www.activestate.com/Products/activetcl/ for details. Users can find binaries for Windows, Linux (x86 or x86_64), Mac OS X (Universal PPC/Intel), HP-UX (PA-RISC), and Solaris (SPARC or x86).

Tclkit: A single file executable containing Tcl, Tk, IncrTcl, MetaKit, and a few other extensions. It is in fact the basis of this web site! Check Wikit for more details. Available in over two dozen varieties, as summarized here [L1 ]. Steve Landers, Cameron Laird, MHo and several others have a personal preference for this convenient single-file distribution.

KiwiTcl: out-of-date, 8.6.0 as of 2013-03-20. free (as in freedom) binary Tcl/Tk distribution for Microsoft Windows and SCO UnixWare platforms.

dqkit: out-of-date (last release, 8.4.13 and 8.5.4). Tclkit-like distribution with many more extensions, but a little out of date

eTcl: out-of-date. Hard to tell exactly what version of Tcl the releases represent. Another single-file Tcl/Tk distribution containing Tcl, Tk, and selected extensions. As well as Windows and Mac OS X, eTcl is available for a number of constrained platforms, including Windows Mobile, and embedded (µclibc) Linux on x86, MIPSel, ARM, and PowerPC processors. HE 2017-09-16: I think, this distribution is not only out-of-date. It's no longer available. The link leads to HTTP 404 and the main page www.evolane.com looks no longer like a web side of a french company.

kbs: latest release 8.6.5. Build system and binary distribution (Linux, Windows, Darwin). Older binary versions for SunOS, IRIX.

undroidwish: latest release 8.6.10 based on the same source tree as AndroWish. Single-file executable (Windows, Linux) containing Tcl, Tk, itcl, itk, Img, tls, TDBC, sqlite3, Canvas3d, tkpath, treectrl, tcllib etc. Rendering/display management is based on SDL2 (see http://libsdl.org ), freetype (see http://freetype.org ), and AGG (see http://www.antigrain.com ) and thus looks almost identical on all supported platforms. Additional platforms: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OpenIndiana, MacOSX, and Haiku plus Linux with SDL's Wayland and KMSDRM video drivers, plus RaspberryPi (Linux) with SDL's Raspberry video driver. KMSDRM and Raspberry drivers allow to use Tk without a display server.

tclexecomp: latest release V2.0.0, Tcl/TK V8.6.14. Single-file executable (Windows, Linux, MacOS) containing Tcl, Tk with many included modules, customiziable.

Windows

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms. Tcl/Tk 8.6.9 as of 2021/01/05.

IronTcl: Binary distribution of Tcl/Tk, based on the latest official source release, with a focus on security and stability. Tcl/Tk 8.6.7 as of 2021/01/05.

teclab's tcltk: Automated and nightly/weekly builds.

BAWT-Tcl: Batteries Included Setup Program. Tcl/Tk versions 8.6.12, 8.6.13 and 8.7a5. Last update: 2023/01/19.

Magicsplat Tcl/Tk for Windows: Windows installer packages (32- and 64-bit). Includes Tcl/Tk and many extensions. Distributions for Tcl/Tk 8.6.14 and 9.0 Beta 3. Last update: 2024/08/01.

Windows 64bit installer: (Version: 8.6.3, uploaded 22/12/2014) Compiled under W7 using MinGW 64bit. Windows Installer, 64bit only. Tcllib0.15 and Tklib0.6 included, list of all packages here (broken link)

Windows installer: (Version: 8.6.5, uploaded 15/05/2016) Windows Installer. A lot of packages included, Tcllib1.18 and Tklib0.6 included, etc. list of all packages here (broken link)

Windows Mobile

Earlier versions of this platform were called PocketPC, Windows CE, etc.

Tclkit Mobile: a port of Tclkit 8.4.9 to Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition PDAs

Windows/CE: covers tcltkce, and Rainer Keuchel's port

Apple Macintosh

MacPorts: not-exactly binary, but automated and up-to-date

Fink: also not binary, but also automated and up-to-date

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms.

Tclkit: (not anymore) up to date TclKits , by David Zolli. A single file executable containing Tcl, Tk, IncrTcl, MetaKit, and a few other extensions. Steve Landers, Cameron Laird, MHo and several others have a personal preference for this convenient single-file distribution.

TclTkAquaBi: out-of-date, a binary distribution of Tcl/Tk + commonly used extensions for MacOS X

Linux

Most Linux distributions include Tcl/Tk and a number of extensions.

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms.

teclab's tcltk: Automated and nightly/weekly builds.

Jean-Luc Fontaine: has RPM kits (for RedHat Linux) for Tcl/Tk, BLT, and TkTable at his home page (last updated in 2006). It is worth noting that Jean-Luc has separate installations for Tcl and Tk, so the file sizes are under a megabyte. These packages are also supposed to coexist happily with the default Tcl/Tk installation from RedHat.

Reinhard Max: creates the official Tcl-RPMs for SuSE Linux. Packages for newer versions of Tcl and several extensions on different versions of SuSE Linux (i386) can be found here: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/tcl/ (last updated in 2006). If you have problems or suggestions about SuSE's Tcl packages or if you need current Tcl RPMs for other hardware platforms, feel free to ask max at suse.de.

Docker: container, by Emmanuel Frecon, based on Ubuntu and a number of apt-get install. And also mini-tcl container based on Alpine Linux (same author and maintainer). Latest attempt is to build from source using BAWT: larger image, more recent packages, different portfolio.

Siqsuruq Docker Images

BSD-like Platforms

The BSDs have a make-based package system similar (although superior) to Linux' rpms. All of the tree offer downloading/installing binary packages. Usually at the time of a OS release, the then current packages tree are compiled and uploaded to the respective project's ftp server. Consult your BSD's package documentation on how to install such a binary package.

Solaris

sunfreeware.com

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms.

Tru64 Unix for Alpha

There is a rather out-of-date "Open Source Software Collection" [L2 ] for Tru64 Unix. Its contents [L3 ] include Tcl/Tk 8.3.1.

HP-UX

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms.

The HP-UX Porting and Archive Center: up-to-date Tcl, Tk, and many (mostly older) extensions, mirrored around the world. Try one of http://hpux.cs.utah.edu in Utah, USA or http://hpux.connect.org.uk/ in the UK.

HP developer and olution partner portal: provides a variety of open-source software packages for HP-UX 11. The technical resources for HP-UX points to [L4 ] If that link moves, you can probably get there through http://www.hp.com/country/us/eng/support.htm

BeOS version R4.5 for Intel / Haiku

BeTcl (out of date): provides a port of Tcl 8.3.0 (without Tk)

undroidwish: can be built for Haiku x86 and x86_64

AIX

ActiveTcl: a binary version of Tcl and Tk available for several major platforms.

Android

AndroWish: Tcl/Tk 8.6 binary and source

Category Porting

Category Distribution