[[any thoughts on where to begin helping someone with this problem?]]

[DKF]: Oh dear.  It is the intention of the [Tcl Core Team] that [Tcl] should be uncrashable.  This is not always possible to achieve though.  But here are some steps to follow when in this situation.

'''1: Don't Panic'''

There's never any need to panic about this sort of thing.  It just makes life harder for no gain.

'''2: See if the Crash is Repeatable'''

Unrepeatable crashes are virtually impossible to hunt down, unless you're lucky enough to have a core dump ''and'' the binary file with symbols attached.

'''3: See if Tcl is using any Extensions/Binary Packages'''

It is very easy to destablilise Tcl by [load]ing broken binary code as an extension or package.  If there is code outside of Tcl itself (and [Tk] too) then there's a fairly high chance that the problem isn't Tcl, and should be reported to a different maintainer.

'''4: Get a Short Script that Causes the Crash Every Time'''

Getting a script that causes your crash every time is tantamount to demonstrating what the problem actually is.  It also allows someone with a debugging build to track down exactly what is failing.

'''5: Report the Problem on SourceForge'''

Go to http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ and click on the appropriate link there to report a bug.  If the bug appears to require Tk, report it as a Tk bug, and otherwise report it as a Tcl bug.  Please provide plenty of information.  Definitely include the patchlevel of Tcl that has the problem, as reported by [[info patchlevel]], and definitely include the script that reproduces the bug (taking care if you're using the file attach mechanism - SF requires that you check the box, give the filename ''and'' give a description.)  And it helps if you've got yourself an SF account set up first; like that you will get automatically notified of progress towards resolution of the bug.


----
[category tutorial]