From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Am 19.12.2025 um 13:29 schrieb Alan Grunwald:

On 19/12/2025 08:23, Mark Summerfield wrote:

On Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:16:59 +0100, Christian Gollwitzer wrote:

Am 19.12.25 um 08:57 schrieb Mark Summerfield:

On these pages are links to ActiveTcl:

But there are _no_ download links I can discover on, or linked
from, that  page.

I'm using Firefox on Linux, although I also tried another
browser. Clearly I'm doing something wrong!

It's not you, it's us ;)

ActiveTcl was given up some while ago. The links are outdated and should >>> be removed.

Current best options for Tcl binaries are the distributions from Paul
Obermeier (BAWT), Christian Werner (androwish/undroidwish) and Ashok
P.Nadkarni (Magicsplat)

             Christian

OK, thanks!

I was only curious to see what they provided.
I'm using Linux and building from source which isn't a problem although
it does mean I have to add third-party extensions myself (tedious but
perfectly okay).

Mark,

Back in the day - maybe as long as 20 years ago - ActiveState used to provide a really good, free, basic Tcl installation on Windows and a useful and usable repo for a good number of extensions. They also provided paid-for consultancy services in Tcl. At some point two or three BIG names in the Tcl community moved on from the company, which continued to provide consultancy but ran down its "community", i.e. free, service. Over time, the community service declined and it seems now to have been withdrawn completely.

All this coincided with my own move from Windows to Linux at home so I never properly investigated the alternatives on the MS systems. Like you, I have come to value the vaguely streamlined feel of a self-compiled system sufficiently to tolerate the tedium involved in that self-compilation. I'm running a bleeding-edge system on Linux and a fairly recent 8.7 on my Windows desktop which continues to be required to support Mrs G.

Can anyone recommend a way to build on Windows? I'm really not interested in the alternatives from Paul, Christian and Ashok recommended above. The last time I attempted to download, install and run up a version of MS Visual Studio I only just stopped myself throwing the computer out of the window. I'd be happy to have another go if I was *sure* that I'd be able to build a working Tcl system and extension in a reasonable timescale (say 6 hours) once I'd managed to install a compiler.

Alan

Note, that BAWT can compile nearly all packages (except Tcl-Stubs and tkribbon) using the MSys/MinGW environment,
which is part of the BAWT distribution. So no need to install VisdualStudio for most use cases.

Paul
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 19/12/2025 12:41, Harald Oehlmann wrote:

Am 19.12.2025 um 13:29 schrieb Alan Grunwald:

On 19/12/2025 08:23, Mark Summerfield wrote:

On Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:16:59 +0100, Christian Gollwitzer wrote:

Am 19.12.25 um 08:57 schrieb Mark Summerfield:

On these pages are links to ActiveTcl:

But there are _no_ download links I can discover on, or linked
from, that  page.

I'm using Firefox on Linux, although I also tried another
browser. Clearly I'm doing something wrong!

It's not you, it's us ;)

ActiveTcl was given up some while ago. The links are outdated and
should
be removed.

Current best options for Tcl binaries are the distributions from Paul
Obermeier (BAWT), Christian Werner (androwish/undroidwish) and Ashok
P.Nadkarni (Magicsplat)

             Christian

OK, thanks!

I was only curious to see what they provided.
I'm using Linux and building from source which isn't a problem although
it does mean I have to add third-party extensions myself (tedious but
perfectly okay).

Mark,

Back in the day - maybe as long as 20 years ago - ActiveState used to
provide a really good, free, basic Tcl installation on Windows and a
useful and usable repo for a good number of extensions. They also
provided paid-for consultancy services in Tcl. At some point two or
three BIG names in the Tcl community moved on from the company, which
continued to provide consultancy but ran down its "community", i.e.
free, service. Over time, the community service declined and it seems
now to have been withdrawn completely.

All this coincided with my own move from Windows to Linux at home so I
never properly investigated the alternatives on the MS systems. Like
you, I have come to value the vaguely streamlined feel of a self-
compiled system sufficiently to tolerate the tedium involved in that
self-compilation. I'm running a bleeding-edge system on Linux and a
fairly recent 8.7 on my Windows desktop which continues to be required
to support Mrs G.

Can anyone recommend a way to build on Windows? I'm really not
interested in the alternatives from Paul, Christian and Ashok
recommended above. The last time I attempted to download, install and
run up a version of MS Visual Studio I only just stopped myself
throwing the computer out of the window. I'd be happy to have another
go if I was *sure* that I'd be able to build a working Tcl system and
extension in a reasonable timescale (say 6 hours) once I'd managed to
install a compiler.

Alan

Alan,
as there are two camps on Windows, it is easy to throw away the
computer, if you are in the wrong camp.

Here is my recipe:
Download MS-Visual Studio with Visual C compiler - I have Version 2022. Download Tcl and Tk source code and unpack them in the same folder.
There is nothing else in the folder.

Go to the start menu and choose: Visual Studio->x84 native prompt
A command window opens. In this command window:

cd to the win folder of the unpacked tcl
Type:
nmake -f Makefile.vc
nmake -f Makefile.vc install INSTALLDIR=c:\tcltest

cd to the win folder of the unpacked tk installation
Repeat the nmake commands

Then, you have a ready tclsh and wish in c:\tcltest
Harald

Thanks Harald (and Robert and Paul). I have marked this message and will return to this thread if or when I decide that I simply MUST have an up-to-date system on Windows.

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