sl@0: Tcl 8.4 for Windows
sl@0: 
sl@0: RCS: @(#) $Id: README,v 1.30.2.1 2005/07/29 03:50:51 mdejong Exp $
sl@0: 
sl@0: 1. Introduction
sl@0: ---------------
sl@0: 
sl@0: This is the directory where you configure and compile the Windows
sl@0: version of Tcl.  This directory also contains source files for Tcl
sl@0: that are specific to Microsoft Windows.
sl@0: 
sl@0: The information in this file is maintained on the web at:
sl@0: 	http://www.tcl.tk/doc/howto/compile.html#win
sl@0: 
sl@0: The above URL includes a lengthy discussion of compiler macros necessary
sl@0: when compiling Tcl extensions that will be dynamically loaded.
sl@0: 
sl@0: 2. Compiling Tcl
sl@0: ----------------
sl@0: 
sl@0: In order to compile Tcl for Windows, you need the following:
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	Tcl 8.4 Source Distribution (plus any patches)
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	and
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	Visual C++ 5 or newer
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	or
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	Msys + Mingw
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/msys_mingw8.zip
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	This Msys + Mingw download is the minimal environment
sl@0: 	needed to build Tcl/Tk under Windows. It includes a
sl@0: 	shell environment and gcc. The release is designed to
sl@0: 	make it as easy a possible to build Tcl/Tk. To install,
sl@0: 	you just download the zip file and extract the files
sl@0: 	into a directory. The README.TXT file describes how
sl@0: 	to launch the msys shell, you then run the configure
sl@0: 	script in the tcl/win directory.
sl@0: 
sl@0: In practice, this release is built with Visual C++ 6.0 and the TEA
sl@0: Makefile.
sl@0: 
sl@0: If you are building with Visual C++, in the "win" subdirectory of the
sl@0: source release, you will find "makefile.vc".  This is the makefile for
sl@0: the Visual C++ compiler and uses the stock NMAKE tool.  Detailed
sl@0: directions for using it, are in the comments of "makefile.vc".  A quick
sl@0: example would be:
sl@0: 	C:\tcl_source\win\>nmake -f makefile.vc
sl@0: 
sl@0: There is also a Developer Studio workspace and project file, too, if you
sl@0: would like to use them.
sl@0: 
sl@0: If you are building with Msys or Cygwin, you can use the configure script
sl@0: that lives in the win subdirectory. The Msys or Cygwin based configure/build
sl@0: process works just like the UNIX one, so you will want to refer to
sl@0: ../unix/README for available configure options. An error will be
sl@0: generated by the configure script if you try to compile Tcl with
sl@0: the Cygwin version of gcc instead of the Mingw version. Check your
sl@0: PATH if you get this error. Be aware that gcc will generate
sl@0: lots of compile time warnings when building Tcl. Warnings are
sl@0: not errors, so please don't file a bug report about them.
sl@0: 
sl@0: In order to use the binaries generated by these makefiles, you will
sl@0: need to place the Tcl script library files someplace where Tcl can
sl@0: find them.  Tcl looks in one of following places for the library files:
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	1) The path specified in the environment variable "TCL_LIBRARY".
sl@0: 
sl@0: 	2) Relative to the directory containing the current .exe.
sl@0: 	   Tcl will look for a directory "..\lib\tcl8.4" relative to the
sl@0: 	   directory containing the currently running .exe.
sl@0: 
sl@0: Note that in order to run tclsh84.exe, you must ensure that tcl84.dll
sl@0: and tclpip84.dll are on your path, in the system directory, or in the 
sl@0: directory containing tclsh84.exe.
sl@0: 
sl@0: Note: Tcl no longer provides support for Win32s.
sl@0: 
sl@0: 3. Test suite
sl@0: -------------
sl@0: 
sl@0: This distribution contains an extensive test suite for Tcl.  Some of
sl@0: the tests are timing dependent and will fail from time to time.  If a
sl@0: test is failing consistently, please send us a bug report with as much
sl@0: detail as you can manage.  Please use the online database at
sl@0: 	http://tcl.sourceforge.net/
sl@0: 
sl@0: In order to run the test suite, you build the "test" target using the
sl@0: appropriate makefile for your compiler.