hi folks, I got bit again trying to build python3.4 from sources (mea
culpa, of course). The symptom is everything (except ensure pip) builds,
installs, and runs fine with the small baby problem that IDLE will not
run (-tkinter isn't even there) even though tcl/tk 8.5 is loaded and
running.
This happens to me from time to time when I'm building on a new machine
(this one is a T-61 ThinkPad running Mint Maya). The solution is simple,
if I could remember it.
The dev packages for tcl/tk have to be installed or the python build
will not self-configure for tkinter. Make sure these are installed
before ./configure; make; sudo make install :
tcl8.5-dev
tk8.5-dev
That is assuming that the dev packages (as well as tcl/tk) are installed
to the standard places on my distro (they were). We can point the build
at another location in setup.py, or with ./configure options, or with
make options (complicated).
Why am I posting? Glad you asked. I am wondering if the build scripts
could be updated slightly by prompting the user for IDLE preferences;
and|or by being more robust about determining where tcl/tk lives, and|or
by explicitly telling the user in the logs (or preferably right there
on-screen) that the dev header packages for tcl/tk are not installed,
and|or by refusing to build until the tcl/tk dev packages are installed,
and|or refusing to build unless the user explicitly opts to bypass
tkinter and build python anyway.
I know its my own fault (because I should just know this) but I got to
wondering about others who 'might not know' about the tcl/tk dev
packages and would be scratching their heads about why _tkinter is
missing and IDLE won't run, although tcl/tk is installed correctly and
running?
Just a suggestion...
marcus
--
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
