README: Tcl This is the Tcl 8.4.12 source distribution. Tcl/Tk is also available through NetCVS: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ You can get any source release of Tcl from the file distributions link at the above URL. RCS: @(#) $Id: README,v 1.49.2.14 2005/12/03 21:55:24 hobbs Exp $ Contents -------- 1. Introduction 2. Documentation 3. Compiling and installing Tcl 4. Development tools 5. Tcl newsgroup 6. Tcl contributed archive 7. Tcl Resource Center 8. Mailing lists 9. Support and Training 10. Thank You 1. Introduction --------------- Tcl provides a powerful platform for creating integration applications that tie together diverse applications, protocols, devices, and frameworks. When paired with the Tk toolkit, Tcl provides the fastest and most powerful way to create GUI applications that run on PCs, Unix, and the Macintosh. Tcl can also be used for a variety of web-related tasks and for creating powerful command languages for applications. Tcl is maintained, enhanced, and distributed freely by the Tcl community. The home for Tcl/Tk sources and bug/patch database is on SourceForge: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ with the Tcl Developer Xchange hosted at: http://www.tcl.tk/ Tcl is a freely available open source package. You can do virtually anything you like with it, such as modifying it, redistributing it, and selling it either in whole or in part. See the file "license.terms" for complete information. 2. Documentation ---------------- Extensive documentation is available at our website. The home page for this release, including new features, is http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/8.4.html Detailed release notes can be found at the file distributions page by clicking on the relevant version. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=10894 Information about Tcl itself can be found at http://www.tcl.tk/about/ There have been many Tcl books on the market. Many are mentioned in the Wiki: http://wiki.tcl.tk/book 2a. Unix Documentation ---------------------- The "doc" subdirectory in this release contains a complete set of reference manual entries for Tcl. Files with extension ".1" are for programs (for example, tclsh.1); files with extension ".3" are for C library procedures; and files with extension ".n" describe Tcl commands. The file "doc/Tcl.n" gives a quick summary of the Tcl language syntax. To print any of the man pages on Unix, cd to the "doc" directory and invoke your favorite variant of troff using the normal -man macros, for example ditroff -man Tcl.n to print Tcl.n. If Tcl has been installed correctly and your "man" program supports it, you should be able to access the Tcl manual entries using the normal "man" mechanisms, such as man Tcl 2b. Windows Documentation ------------------------- The "doc" subdirectory in this release contains a complete set of Windows help files for Tcl. Once you install this Tcl release, a shortcut to the Windows help Tcl documentation will appear in the "Start" menu: Start | Programs | Tcl | Tcl Help 3. Compiling and installing Tcl ------------------------------- There are brief notes in the unix/README, win/README, and mac/README about compiling on these different platforms. There is additional information about building Tcl from sources at http://www.tcl.tk/doc/howto/compile.html 4. TclPro Development tools --------------------------- A high quality set of commercial quality development tools is available to accelerate your Tcl application development. The TclPro product provides a debugger, static code checker, packaging utility, and bytecode compiler. TclPro was open-sourced when Scriptics/Ajuba was acquired by Interwoven. Visit its home at SourceForge for more information and source/binaries: http://tclpro.sourceforge.net/ ActiveState has picked up support for commercial Tcl development tools. More information can be found at http://www.ActiveState.com/Tcl 5. Tcl newsgroup ---------------- There is a USENET news group, "comp.lang.tcl", intended for the exchange of information about Tcl, Tk, and related applications. The newsgroup is a great place to ask general information questions. There is also a USENET news group, "comp.lang.tcl.announce", intended to announce new releases of software, training, and more. For bug reports, please see the "Support and bug fixes" section below. 6. Tcl contributed archive -------------------------- Many people have created exciting packages and applications based on Tcl and/or Tk and made them freely available to the Tcl community. An archive of these contributions is kept on the machine ftp://archives.tcl.tk/pub/tcl (aka ftp://ftp.procplace.com/pub/tcl). You can access the archive using anonymous FTP. The archive also contains several FAQ ("frequently asked questions") documents that provide solutions to problems that are commonly encountered by Tcl newcomers. 7. The Tcler's Wiki ------------------- A Wiki-based open community site covering all aspects of Tcl/Tk is at: http://wiki.tcl.tk/ A wealth of useful information can be found there. 8. Mailing lists ---------------- Several mailing lists are hosted at SourceForge to discuss development or use issues (like Macintosh and Windows topics). For more information and to subscribe, visit: http://sourceforge.net/projects/tcl/ and go to the Mailing Lists page. 9. Support and Training ------------------------ We are very interested in receiving bug reports, patches, and suggestions for improvements. We prefer that you send this information to us via the bug form at SourceForge, rather than emailing us directly. The bug database is at: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ The bug form was designed to give uniform structure to bug reports as well as to solicit enough information to minimize followup questions. We will log and follow-up on each bug, although we cannot promise a specific turn-around time. Enhancements, reported via the Feature Requests form at the same web site, may take longer and may not happen at all unless there is widespread support for them (we're trying to slow the rate at which Tcl/Tk turns into a kitchen sink). It's very difficult to make incompatible changes to Tcl/Tk at this point, due to the size of the installed base. The Tcl community is too large for us to provide much individual support for users. If you need help we suggest that you post questions to comp.lang.tcl. We read the newsgroup and will attempt to answer esoteric questions for which no one else is likely to know the answer. In addition, see the following page on the Wiki for links to other organizations that offer Tcl/Tk training: http://wiki.tcl.tk/training 10. Thank You ------------- We'd like to express our thanks to the Tcl community for all the helpful suggestions, bug reports, and patches we have received. Tcl/Tk has improved vastly and will continue to do so with your help.