homebrew 2.3 install on RedHat9 not playing nice with Tkinter

[Rob Andrews]

I'm on a Red Hat 9 system, which has Python 2.2.2 installed, and I installed
2.3 separately into /home/rob/Python-2.3/ (creating the symbolic link
"py23" to point to my 2.3 installation). Now I'm trying to work out the
kinks in the process.

Unable to run Idle using 2.3 the way I've got things set up, I created a
super simple Tkinter test program that just pops up a Label widget. I
pasted below an example of how the RH-provided 2.2 runs the script without
incident, but running the script with 2.3 produces a traceback. If someone
can help me see the error of my ways, I'll be most appreciative.

[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python -V
Python 2.2.2
[Wed Aug 27][03:04 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 -V
Python 2.3
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 test2.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test2.py", line 1, in ?
from Tkinter import Label
File "/home/rob/Python-2.3/Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 38, in ?
import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
ImportError: No module named _tkinter
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python test2.py

-Rob
(mediocre with Python, incompetent with linux)

 

[Martin Franklin]

I'm on a Red Hat 9 system, which has Python 2.2.2 installed, and I
installed 2.3 separately into /home/rob/Python-2.3/ (creating the symbolic
link "py23" to point to my 2.3 installation). Now I'm trying to work out
the kinks in the process.

Unable to run Idle using 2.3 the way I've got things set up, I created a
super simple Tkinter test program that just pops up a Label widget. I
pasted below an example of how the RH-provided 2.2 runs the script without
incident, but running the script with 2.3 produces a traceback. If someone
can help me see the error of my ways, I'll be most appreciative.

[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python -V
Python 2.2.2
[Wed Aug 27][03:04 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 -V
Python 2.3
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 test2.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test2.py", line 1, in ?
from Tkinter import Label
File "/home/rob/Python-2.3/Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 38, in ?
import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for
Tk ImportError: No module named _tkinter
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python test2.py

-Rob
(mediocre with Python, incompetent with linux)

Rob,

I just finished building python 2.3 on my redhat 9 laptop... the first time I
did the make it failed (near the end) because it couldn't find the Tk/Tcl
libs.

On my system they are in /usr/local/lib (because I built them myself)
on your's I guess they would be in /usr/lib. So to fix the build I set
LD_RUN_PATH to /usr/local/lib and them ran make again.


HTH
Martin

 

[Martin Franklin]

I'm on a Red Hat 9 system, which has Python 2.2.2 installed, and I
installed 2.3 separately into /home/rob/Python-2.3/ (creating the
symbolic link "py23" to point to my 2.3 installation). Now I'm trying to
work out the kinks in the process.

Unable to run Idle using 2.3 the way I've got things set up, I created a
super simple Tkinter test program that just pops up a Label widget. I
pasted below an example of how the RH-provided 2.2 runs the script
without incident, but running the script with 2.3 produces a traceback.
If someone can help me see the error of my ways, I'll be most
appreciative.

[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python -V
Python 2.2.2
[Wed Aug 27][03:04 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 -V
Python 2.3
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 test2.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test2.py", line 1, in ?
from Tkinter import Label
File "/home/rob/Python-2.3/Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 38, in ?
import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for
Tk ImportError: No module named _tkinter
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python test2.py

-Rob
(mediocre with Python, incompetent with linux)

Rob,

I just finished building python 2.3 on my redhat 9 laptop... the first
time I did the make it failed (near the end) because it couldn't find the
Tk/Tcl libs.

On my system they are in /usr/local/lib (because I built them myself)
on your's I guess they would be in /usr/lib. So to fix the build I set
LD_RUN_PATH to /usr/local/lib and them ran make again.


HTH
Martin

OK so just to check what I did I did it again...:

The error I got when I did make for the first time was:-


gcc -pthread -shared build/temp.linux-i686-2.3/_tkinter.o
build/temp.linux-i686-2.3/tkappinit.o -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/usr/local/lib
-ltk8.4 -ltcl8.4 -lX11 -o build/lib.linux-i686-2.3/_tkinter.so
*** WARNING: renaming "_tkinter" since importing it failed: libtk8.4.so:
cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory


So it looks like _tkinter got compiled OK but when it was imported (as a test
I presume) it failed to find the tk library.. so:-


[mfranklin1@m-franklin Python-2.3]$ export LD_RUN_PATH=/usr/local/lib

[mfranklin1@m-franklin Python-2.3]$ make

gcc -pthread -shared build/temp.linux-i686-2.3/_tkinter.o
build/temp.linux-i686-2.3/tkappinit.o -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/usr/local/lib
-ltk8.4 -ltcl8.4 -lX11 -o build/lib.linux-i686-2.3/_tkinter.so
running build_scripts

This time it continues. without error/warning...


What is LD_RUN_PATH???


man ld

<snip>

-rpath dir
Add a directory to the runtime library search path. This is used
when linking an ELF executable with shared objects. All -rpath
arguments are concatenated and passed to the runtime linker, which
uses them to locate shared objects at runtime. The -rpath option
is also used when locating shared objects which are needed by
shared objects explicitly included in the link; see the description
of the -rpath-link option. If -rpath is not used when linking an
ELF executable, the contents of the environment variable
"LD_RUN_PATH" will be used if it is defined.

The -rpath option may also be used on SunOS. By default, on SunOS,
the linker will form a runtime search patch out of all the -L
options it is given. If a -rpath option is used, the runtime
search path will be formed exclusively using the -rpath options,
ignoring the -L options. This can be useful when using gcc, which
adds many -L options which may be on NFS mounted filesystems.

For compatibility with other ELF linkers, if the -R option is fol-
lowed by a directory name, rather than a file name, it is treated


Cheers
Martin

 

[Martin Franklin]

I'm on a Red Hat 9 system, which has Python 2.2.2 installed, and I
installed 2.3 separately into /home/rob/Python-2.3/ (creating the symbolic
link "py23" to point to my 2.3 installation). Now I'm trying to work out
the kinks in the process.

Unable to run Idle using 2.3 the way I've got things set up, I created a
super simple Tkinter test program that just pops up a Label widget. I
pasted below an example of how the RH-provided 2.2 runs the script without
incident, but running the script with 2.3 produces a traceback. If someone
can help me see the error of my ways, I'll be most appreciative.

[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python -V
Python 2.2.2
[Wed Aug 27][03:04 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 -V
Python 2.3
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ py23 test2.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test2.py", line 1, in ?
from Tkinter import Label
File "/home/rob/Python-2.3/Lib/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 38, in ?
import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for
Tk ImportError: No module named _tkinter
[Wed Aug 27][03:01 PM] ~/Python-2.3/test $ python test2.py

-Rob
(mediocre with Python, incompetent with linux)

Rob,

I had another look and I think I see your problem... basically I removed the
/usr/local build of Tcl/Tk so that python 2.3 would 'find' the redhat 9 build
of Tcl/Tk....

so I ran configure then make and right at the end of the make:-

building '_tkinter' extension
gcc -pthread -DNDEBUG -g -O3 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC
-fno-strict-aliasing -DWITH_APPINIT=1 -I/usr/X11R6/include -I.
-I/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/./Include
-I/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Include
-I/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3 -c
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c -o
build/temp.linux-i686-2.3/_tkinter.o
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c:96:2: #error
"unsupported Tcl configuration"
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c: In function
`AsObj':
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c:947: warning:
passing arg 1 of `Tcl_NewUnicodeObj' from incompatible pointer type
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c: In function
`FromObj':
/usr/python/Python23/TEST111/Python-2.3/Modules/_tkinter.c:1073: warning:
passing arg 1 of `PyUnicodeUCS2_FromUnicode' from incompatible pointer type




So it looks like the Tcl/Tk version that comes with RedHat 9 (it apears to be
Tk 8.3.5 accordfing to the tk.h file in /usr/include) is not compatible with
the Tkinter in Python 2.3. This means _tkinter.so is not built and Tkinter
will not work!

On way round this little problem would be to build your own Tcl/Tk
(thats what I did) Not only will you get a working Python 2.3 but you get the
new options in Tk 8.4 too all for an extra couple of downloads and about 30
mins of 'work'.


Cheers
Martin