Ubuntu package "python3" does not include tkinter

[Rui Maciel]

No, the job of the package system is to manage dependencies. It makes no
guarantee about whether or not something will "work".

The purpose of establishing dependencies is to guarantee that once a
software package is installed, all the necessary components needed for it to
run properly are already present in the system or can be installed
automatically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_hell


Rui Maciel

 

[Andrew Berg]

Obviously you cannot display an X window without
X, well duh, but merely importing tkinter doesn't require an X display.

Importing it doesn't. Doing anything useful with it, however, does. Would you consider the engine an optional part of a car? After all, the
radio would still work and you can put things in the glove compartment.

We just disagree on where to break the packages up.

We disagree on what a dependency is. I say a dependency is something required in order to have any functionality that is not defined as
optional or extra by the author(s). You say it's anything required in order to initialize, even if there is little to no actual
functionality. Perhaps you are fond of hunting down components to make something work, but most people would expect a packaging system to
automatically install whatever is required to make the software they want to use do what it is supposed to. Or perhaps you had a dummy
package in mind that would automatically pull in Tcl/Tk and X and whatever else is required to make tkinter draw things on a screen as a
convenience. Of course, that brings us back to the OP's problem...

Since Linux distros already include whatever third-party software they see fit as part of their base (or have the OS installer install
whatever the user specifies during installation), why not have desktop configurations include tkinter by default when installing?

 

[Chris Angelico]

And after 30 years gone by, some people still don't use Tk, let alone
Tkinter. There is absolutely no reason to force them to install that if
they don't need to.

Agreed; my preference is GTK, when I do GUI work.

That must be reason why you are the only one complaining about that.

I'm not.

ChrisA

 

[rusi]

That goes both ways, with the added benefit that python-tkinter is already
available in distro's official repositories.  If you want to install it, go
for it.  Nothing stops you.  If you don't then you aren't forced to install
half the packages in the repository just to have a python interpreter in
your system.

Rui Maciel

Collecting together what are the conflicting principles
---------------------------------------------


1 Fail early Fail fast
2 Good error messages
3 No crap
4 A working system
that is easily upgradable and keeps working
5 Package system permissive
allows wide variation of package combinations
6 Package system strict
Disallows error-prone situations/combinations
7 Easy on learners/noobs