Tcl/Tk 8.5 for Windows, Binary Distribution RCS: @(#) $Id: README.binary,v 1.42 2006/05/04 14:01:27 dgp Exp $ 1. Introduction --------------- This directory contains the binary distribution of Tcl/Tk 8.5a5 for Windows. It was compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 using Win32 API, so that it will run under Windows 98, NT, 2000 and XP. 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 Mac OS X. 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. 2. Documentation ---------------- The home of Tcl and Tk sources and bug database on the Web is at: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ The home page for the Tcl Developer Xchange is at: http://www.tcl.tk/ The home page for the Tcl/Tk 8.5 release is http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/8.5.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/scripting/ There are many Tcl books on the market. Most are listed at http://www.tcl.tk/resource/doc/books/ There are notes about compiling Tcl at http://www.tcl.tk/doc/howto/compile.html 3. Installation --------------- The binary release is distributed as a self-extracting archive called tcl.exe. The setup program which will prompt you for an installation directory. It will create the installation heirarchy under the specified directory, and install a wish application icon under the program manager group of your choice. We are no longer supporting use of Tcl with 16-bit versions of Windows. Microsoft has completely dropped support of the Win32s subsystem. 4. Linking against the binary release -------------------------------------- In order to link your applications against the .dll files shipped with this release, you will need to use the appropriate .lib file for your compiler. In the lib directory of the installation directory, there are library files for the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler: tcl85.lib tk85.lib 5. Building dynamically loadable extensions -------------------------------------------- Please refer to the example dynamically loadable extension provided on our ftp site: ftp://ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/misc/example.zip This archive contains a template that you can use for building extensions that will be loadable on Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X systems. 6. Reporting Bugs ----------------- If you have comments or bug reports for the Windows version of Tcl, please use our online database at: http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ or post them to the newsgroup comp.lang.tcl. 7. Tcl newsgroup ----------------- There is a network news group "comp.lang.tcl" intended for the exchange of information about Tcl, Tk, and related applications. Feel free to use the newsgroup both for general information questions and for bug reports. We read the newsgroup and will attempt to fix bugs and problems reported to it. When using comp.lang.tcl, please be sure that your e-mail return address is correctly set in your postings. This allows people to respond directly to you, rather than the entire newsgroup, for answers that are not of general interest. A bad e-mail return address may prevent you from getting answers to your questions. You may have to reconfigure your news reading software to ensure that it is supplying valid e-mail addresses. 8. 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.neosoft.com. You can access the archive using anonymous FTP; the Tcl contributed archive is in the directory "/pub/tcl". The archive also contains several FAQ ("frequently asked questions") documents that provide solutions to problems that are commonly encountered by TCL newcomers. 9. Tcl Resource Center ---------------------- Visit http://www.tcl.tk/resource/ to see an annotated index of many Tcl resources available on the World Wide Web. This includes papers, books, and FAQs, as well as extensions, applications, binary releases, and patches. You can contribute patches by using the Tracker at http://tcl.sourceforge.net/ You can also recommend more URLs for the resource center using the forms labeled "Add a Resource". 10. 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. There are also Special Interest Groups (SIGs) setup for these topics and more at: http://www.tcl.tk/