To build and test Tcl, on Unix-like systems, follow the steps detailed below.
Tcl is frequently obtained by getting the C source code and compiling it. Tcl comes with generic code plus modules specifically designed to compile on Unix, Windows, and MacOS, and other platforms.
The steps one takes to build a fresh copy of Tcl are frequently something like:
Unix users report problems on a regular basis on some platforms and with certain combinations of events. For instance AIX and HP/UX users, I believe, often have problems when using older versions of compilers, or Tcl, etc. Solaris users report configure problems if their $PATH includes /usr/ucb but their environment does not include a C compiler.
configure has a number of flags from which one can choose.
| --with-tcl=DIR | Specifies the directory containing the Tcl binaries and Tcl's platform-dependent configuration information. By default the Tcl directory is assumed to be in the location given by (a) above. |
| --enable-threads | If this switch is set, Tcl will compile itself with multithreading support. |
| --enable-shared | If this switch is specified, Tk will compile itself as a shared library if it can figure out how to do that on this platform. This is the default on platforms where we know how to build shared libraries. |
| --disable-shared | If this switch is specified, Tk will compile itself as a static library. |
| --enable-symbols | Build with debugging symbols By default standard debugging symbols are used. Specify mem to also include TCL_MEM_DEBUG memory debugging (i.e., to create the memory command), compile for bytecode debugging (see tcl_traceExec), or all to enable all debugging features. |
| --disable-symbols | Build without debugging symbols. |
| --enable-64bit | enable 64bit support (where applicable). |
| --disable-64bit | disable 64bit support (where applicable). |
| --enable-64bit-vis | enable 64bit Sparc VIS support. |
| --disable-64bit-vis | disable 64bit Sparc VIS support. |
| --enable-man-symlinks | Use symlinks for linking the manpages that should be reachable under several names. |
| --enable-man-compression=PROG | Compress the manpages using PROG. |
Mac OS X only (ignored on other platforms):
| --enable-framework | package Tk as a framework. |
| --disable-corefoundation | disable use of CoreFoundation API. |
| --enable-aqua | use Aqua windowingsystem rather than X11, requires --enable-corefoundation with tcl & tk. |
With newer versions of bash (>3.0) and older versions of Tcl, or with Tcl extensions based on TEA, ./configure might fail with an error resembling:
configure might give an error resembling:
./configure: line 7624: syntax error near unexpected token `)'
Refer to bash for the cause and solution of this problem.
To pass arguments to test via make:
make test TESTFLAGS="-file unixInit.test -match unixInit-3.2"
HaO 2012-05-04 configure --enable-64bit was installing shared library in /usr/local/lib and not /usr/local/lib64, where it would be in the library path.
library in lib and not in lib64 when installing tcl8.6 on CentOS 6 64bit , comp.lang.tcl, 2012-05-03, Joe English suggested using an autoconf site defaults file.
For example, /usr/local/share/config.site might contain:
# /usr/local/share/config.site for platforms that prefer
# the directory /usr/local/lib64 over /usr/local/lib.
test "$libdir" = '${exec_prefix}/lib' && libdir='${exec_prefix}/lib64'
# to not stop configure if test fails (sqlite and threads in bundled tcl8.6b3)
trueHaO 2012-10-08: I have added true, as configure stopped with tcl8.6b3 bundled package sqlite as exec_prefix was not defined at all and the test returned 1 and stopped the configure script. Sqlite anyway used already lib64
The following line will be printed if configure --enable-64bit is executed:
configure: loading site script /usr/local/share/config.site
The files will be installed as follows:
If Itcl is installed (as a binary extension), scripts and shared libraries go to /usr/local/lib64/itcl4.0b7. This first felt irritating but is necessary, as Tcl-only extensions may be shared between 32 and 64 bit, but shared libraries not.
The Tcl auto_path is:
$ /usr/local/bin/tclsh8.6 % set auto_path /usr/local/lib/tcl8.6 /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib64
which feels strange to me. IMHO, the lib64 should be before lib. This is also like that in the Makefile.
It was still necessary to put a link in /usr/lib64 that linked packages will find the library (ex: Rivet):
# cd /usr/lib64 # ln -s /usr/local/lib64/libtcl.8.6.so
/usr/local/bin/tclsh8.6 does not require this link.
Here is a file list of a freshly compiled tcl/tk8.6b3 on CentOS6.3 64 bit of the (quite empty) folder lib:
drwxr-xr-x. 5 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:40 tcl8 drwxr-xr-x. 6 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:40 tcl8.6 drwxr-xr-x. 6 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:39 tk8.6
and the lib64 folder:
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:41 itcl4.0b8 -r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root 1715711 8. Okt 13:40 libtcl8.6.so -rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 8028 8. Okt 13:40 libtclstub8.6.a -r-xr-xr-x. 1 root root 1539775 8. Okt 13:39 libtk8.6.so -rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 5472 8. Okt 13:39 libtkstub8.6.a drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:40 pkgconfig drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:41 sqlite3.7.14 drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:41 tcl8 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 7597 8. Okt 13:40 tclConfig.sh -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 786 8. Okt 13:40 tclooConfig.sh drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:41 tdbc1.0b17 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:41 thread2.7b1 drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 8. Okt 13:39 tk8.6 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3977 8. Okt 13:39 tkConfig.sh
HaO 2013-03-27:
One may use :
nmake -f Makefile.vc test OPTS=threads TESTFLAGS="-verbose \"body start error\" -file event.test"
to specify flags to the test run. [L1 ]
The testflags are passed as parameters to the tcltest.tcl script.
HaO 2013-05-29:
One may use :
make test TESTFLAGS="-verbose bst -file event.test" 2>&1 | tee testlog_tcl-trunk.txt
To specify flags to the test run. [L2 ]
The testflags are passed as parameters to the tcltest.tcl script.