tk on windows with ActiveTcl and ruby 3.2 crashing about tk

[andrewroth]

I got further with the latest 2.7 windows release. https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller2/releases/download/RubyInstaller-2.7.8-1/rubyinstaller-devkit-2.7.8-1-x64.exe. So somewhere between that version and the latest it broke.

Also python gave more info:

Python 3.10.11 (tags/v3.10.11:7d4cc5a, Apr  5 2023, 00:38:17) [MSC v.1929 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tkinter as tk
>>> window = tk.Tk()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\Python310\lib\tkinter\__init__.py", line 2299, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: Can't find a usable tk.tcl in the following directories:
    {C:\ActiveTcl\lib\tk8.6} C:/ActiveTcl/lib/tcl8.6/tk8.6 C:/ActiveTcl/lib/tk8.6 C:/lib/tk8.6 C:/lib/tk8.6 C:/lib/tk8.6 C:/library

C:/ActiveTcl/lib/tk8.6/tk.tcl: version conflict for package "Tk": have 8.6.12, need exactly 8.6.13
version conflict for package "Tk": have 8.6.12, need exactly 8.6.13
    while executing
"package require -exact Tk  8.6.13"
    (file "C:/ActiveTcl/lib/tk8.6/tk.tcl" line 14)
    invoked from within
"source C:/ActiveTcl/lib/tk8.6/tk.tcl"
    ("uplevel" body line 1)
    invoked from within
"uplevel #0 [list source $file]"


This probably means that tk wasn't installed properly.

>>> window = tk.Tk()
>>>

So then I modified C:\ActiveTcl\lib\tcl8.6\init.tcl and C:\ActiveTcl\lib\tk8.6\tk.tcl, near the start of those files is package require -exact Tcl 8.6.13 and package require -exact Tk 8.6.13, respectively. So I modified those to be package require -exact Tcl 8.6.12 and package require -exact Tk 8.6.12, and it worked!

So is this an issue with ActiveCtl's install? Did they include maybe 8.6.12 in the dll's or elsewhere in their own package, but then require 8.6.13 in the lib files?

[jeremyevans]

Not sure what the problem is, but I suspect you are correct this is an issue with ActiveTcl and not ruby-tk. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience using ruby-tk on Windows.

[andrewroth]

Yeah, looks like it. Ok, I guess we can close this, but maybe it'll help someone if they have the same problem.

[AndyObtiva]

@andrewroth I just wanted to note that the Glimmer DSL for Tk project, which runs on top of Ruby Tk and ActiveTcl, includes detailed Windows setup instructions for how to get ActiveTcl and Ruby Tk installed and working: https://github.com/AndyObtiva/glimmer-dsl-tk?tab=readme-ov-file#pre-requisites

That might help.