Tcl/Tk alpha channel bug on OSX Mavericks is fixeded, but how/when can I use the fix?

[Kevin Walzer]

On 8/4/14, 5:40 AM, Peter Tomcsanyi wrote:
> "Kevin Walzer" <kw at codebykevin.com> wrote in message
> news:lrmc0r$suj$1 at dont-email.me...
>> New releases of Tcl/Tk 8.5 and 8.6 are due out soon; right now they
>> are undergoing final testing as betas/release candidates.
>
> Thanks for the promising news.
> Where should I look for the announcement that there is something new?
> Is this the correct place?
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/tcl/files/Tcl/

You can check comp.lang.tcl for an announcement.
>
> But will be the 8.5. branch updated, too?
> I need 8.5 because CPython on Mac does not yet use 8.6...
> I cannot see there 8.5.15.1 (at least that is how ActiveTcl is numbered)
> which solved some oter Mavericks issues in October 2013 (all 8.5. files
> are older than October 2013)...
> So will be there a 8.5.16?

8.5 and 8.6 will be updated.
>
>> you can download the source tarballs for Tcl and Tk when they are
>> released, untar them to a specific directory, cd to the directory, and
>> run these commands:
>>
>> make -C $insert_tcl_dirname_here/macosx
>> make -C $insert_tk_dirname_here/macosx
>>
>> and then
>>
>> sudo make -C $insert_tcl_dirname_here/macosx install
>> sudo make -C $insert_tk_dirname_here/macosx install
>
> I have some command line skills and I have the command line developer
> tools installed (is that enough?), but I am not sure if I understand
> which directory's name is $insert_tcl_dirname_here (I suppose that the $
> sign belongs to the name of the "variable", am I right?). Is it the
> directory where I unterd tcl (and which is under the directory where i
> cd-ed to)?

$insert_tcl_dirname = something like tcl8.5.16. Just look at the numbering.

In other words, you want a directory with two subdirectories: tcl8.5.16 
and tk8.5.16 (since you are looking at 8.5).
>
>> This will install the updated version of Tcl and Tk in
>> /Library/Frameworks, and Python should pick them up.
>
> Well, should...
> I will try. But when I followed a similar procedure of installing the
> tkpng package then after "sudo make install" it seemed to be ok, but it
> was apparently added to other version of Tk than CPython is using...
> Can somebody else confirm or disconfirm that the above procedure will
> install the new Tcl/Tk to that place where CPython (that is already
> installed) will pick it from? Or do I need to reinstall CPython after
> this? Or...?

Where is your current installation of Python? The above instructions 
assume that you are using the standard Python from python.org. As I 
mentioned before, if you have installed things via a package manager 
(brew, Fink or MacPorts) you will have to follow their instructions.

--Kevin


-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin/Mobile Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com
http://www.wtmobilesoftware.com