Python3 Tkinter difficulty

[harrismh777]

Greetings folks,
I am very new to this usenet forum, and I am brand new to Python3...
so be gentle <please>
The source tarball for Python3 compiled and installed (local install
for first experiments $HOME/local/) and runs very well in my terminal.
I am not able to run IDLE because the compile build process could
not build the _tkinter module, I think because TclTk is not installed on
this system in the standard places... Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. I have TclTk
installed version 8.5x and tclsh and wish work fine... also IDLE on
python 2.62 works fine too.
I am noticing that setup.py has the path to the TclTk libs hardcoded
for /usr/X11R6/... and my TclTk is not there... so I'm thinking that I
need to direct the setup.py path to the right place and thinngs should
work... but, I'm at a bit of a loss to know exactly what its looking
for... libs, or libs and devel headers? or other?
Help/Hints would be appreciated from the initiated... humbly greatful...

kind regards,
m harris

 

[Peter Otten]

Greetings folks,
I am very new to this usenet forum, and I am brand new to Python3...
Welcome.

so be gentle <please>

We don't eat children above the age of three

The source tarball for Python3 compiled and installed (local install
for first experiments $HOME/local/) and runs very well in my terminal.
I am not able to run IDLE because the compile build process could
not build the _tkinter module, I think because TclTk is not installed on
this system in the standard places... Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. I have TclTk
installed version 8.5x and tclsh and wish work fine... also IDLE on
python 2.62 works fine too.
I am noticing that setup.py has the path to the TclTk libs hardcoded
for /usr/X11R6/... and my TclTk is not there... so I'm thinking that I
need to direct the setup.py path to the right place and thinngs should
work... but, I'm at a bit of a loss to know exactly what its looking
for... libs, or libs and devel headers? or other?

Most likely the development headers. Try installing tk-dev.

 

[harrismh777]

We don't eat children above the age of three

geez... that's good news

Most likely the development headers. Try installing tk-dev.

Thanks. You're right... I don't have tk-dev installed. duh. And I
have choices to make... it looks like setup.py is looking for 8.4
headers; I have TclTk 8.5x installed. From the standard repository it
looks like I can download and install tk-dev (dependency package) and|or
tk-dev 8.3, or 8.4, or 8.5... and I am not sure which of these is what
is needed without causing other problems. Can 8.4 and 8.5 be installed
together without problem? Does it really matter which of these I use
for the purpose of python build? If I have TclTk 8.5 installed should I
only download the 8.5 tk-dev package?

sorry for being so dense... and I'm definitely over three... way too
tough for eating or anything like that :}



kind regards,

 

[Terry Reedy]

Thanks. You're right... I don't have tk-dev installed. duh. And I have
choices to make... it looks like setup.py is looking for 8.4 headers; I

3.2 (which you should definitely be starting with) should, I think, be
looking for 8.5, which I believe is years old now and required, I also
believe, for the tkinter.ttk module.

have TclTk 8.5x installed. From the standard repository it looks like I
can download and install tk-dev (dependency package) and|or tk-dev 8.3,
or 8.4, or 8.5... and I am not sure which of these is what is needed
without causing other problems. Can 8.4 and 8.5 be installed together
without problem? Does it really matter which of these I use for the
purpose of python build? If I have TclTk 8.5 installed should I only
download the 8.5 tk-dev package?

I would start with that and then make that work.

 

[harrismh777]

[python] 3.2 (which you should definitely be starting with) should, I think, be
looking for [dev-tk] 8.5, which I believe is years old now and required, I also
believe, for the tkinter.ttk module.

Thanks everyone for your patience, and certainly for your help. I pulled
down tk-dev 8.5 from the repository (I did not modify anything in the
config setup.py manually), then this:

../configure --prefix=$HOME/local/python3
make
make install

This time the build process picked up the TclTk headers just fine and
built the _tkinter module. IDLE is back on-line!--- yessssss.

Thanks again folks,
kind regards,

m harris