Subject: Re: TclTk update request
From: Nicholas Wourms <[email-masked]>
To: Paul Butcher <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 03:46:23 -0700 (PDT)

--- Paul Butcher <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Some requests to whoever is maintaining the tcltk package for cygwin:
> 
> 1.  Could it be updated to the latest V8.3.4 build instead of continuing
> with 
> V8.0?  With Mumit Khan's patches (as linked from the cygwin home page)
> V8.3.4 
> builds fine with Tix and BLT - but itcl/iwidgets need adding in.
>
> 2.  Python tkinter library could then be updated to link to V8.3.4 - in
> fact 
> it would probably be good to have this as a separate subpackage from the
> main 
> python to avoid dependency of whole python package on tcltk.
> (Perl:Tk could also be added?)
> 
> 3.  gdb V5.2 can be built for cygwin with dependency on tcltk package
> rather 
> than reinstalling all the tcltk files again - (the current test gdb
> package 
> is V5.1.1 and includesTclTk V8.3.2).
> 
> All this would make the whole thing more useable and up to date.
> 
Paul,

You seem to be very well versed in the areas of TCL/TK.  We need someone
like you to spearhead the update of tcl/tk to the latest version.  The
problem is that there are a few issues to overcome.

1)Cygwin tcl/tk is a dependancy of insight (gui gdb) which is a product
that paying Cygwin customers use.  Maintaining compatibility with insight
is the #1 goal.  As it stands there are some problems with this
compatibility in the later tcl/tk releases.  Currently there is
tcl/tk/itcl/tix/blt source tree in the sources.redhat.com cvs repository
which contains some preliminary fixes.

2)Given the previous statement, you should subscribe to the insight list
and ask what the current state of cygwin support is and what still needs
to be done.  I'm sure they would be extremely grateful to have someone
from the cygwin community working on this.

3)Be mindful of expect/dejagnu, as these would need to be updated to deal
with a new tcl/tk release.  The biggest issue is dealing with posix path
conversions and not using win32 paths when dejagnu scripts are running.

4)Search the cygwin and cygwin-apps mailing list for previous discussions
on this.  Be mindful of the goals and expectations of Chris Faylor.

Once you have worked out enough of the bugs to where the new insight works
on it, then bring this up again in this mailing list.  We need someone
like you!  You are our only hope, as Chris is already working on many
other projects and has little or no time for the tcl/tk.  I hope you will
be successful in this effort!

If you were not aware, the insight homepage is at:
http://sources.redhat.com/insight/

Good luck, and let's hope you'll not be like the others who just talked
but did nothing to further this cause.

Cheers,
Nicholas

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