Ubuntu package "python3" does not include tkinter

[Terry Jan Reedy]

On 4/19/2013 1:17 PM, lcrocker wrote:
> Am I mistaken in my belief that tkinter is a non-optional part of the
> Python language?

Yes. The PSF CPython Windows installer makes installation of 
tcl/tk/tkinter optional. The build files will compile and build Python 
without tkinter and without other modules that depend on other c 
libraries (example, lzma). I believe one can build python 2 without 
unicode, which is much more 'core' than the Tkinter module.

> I installed the "python3" package on Ubuntu, and
> tkinter is not included--it's an optional package "python3-tk" that
> has to be installed separately. I reported this as a bug as was
> summarily slapped down.

I hope it was done politely ;-).

Overall, Ubuntu is relatively advanced in moving to new versions. I 
believe I read that they are hoping to make 3.3 the default Python as 
soon as possible.