[GRASS-dev] [bug #4493] (grass) gis.m fails to start GUI

[Hamish]

me:
> > note NVIZ still doesn't work 100% with TclTk 8.4 on debian. This is
> > because of bugs which should be fixed, but in the mean time we are
> > left with a no-win compromise, either NVIZ working or gis.m working;
> > not both.

Michael:
> I think that Glynn is fixing (or maybe has fixed) NVIZ.

Glynn:
> Nope. All I've done to NVIZ is to update Togl to 1.7

Michael:
> Also, I have a grad student who is using Debian (I can ask him the
> distro when he gets in) and the current GIS Manager with no problem.
> ????


gis.m + tcltk 8.4 on Debian: no problem.

NVIZ + tcltk 8.4 on Debian (others??): segfaults in the keyframe
animation panel when you add new key frames. It happens on a G_free()
call, if you comment out the 2 calls it works ok. Plain old memory bug,
not a systemic limitation, so don't let it affect decisions. Probably
others bugs too, but that's the one I found.

read all about it:  https://intevation.de/rt/webrt?serial_num=4246


Michael:
> I'd need to find some 8.3 docs and check all widgets and options since
> I don't actually have a system to run it agains 8.3 and see if it
> bombs.

Easier to just wait for 8.3 people to complain about specific errors
than to try and audit the code. :)


Michael:
> But this works fine in 8.4 in both x11 and Mac OSX versions on my Mac
> and for FC4. Is 8.4 for Debian so different?

Debian is always different. Three reasons: strict processes/ideology
trump quick fixes (do it Right even if it's painful); as getting new
packages into the main archives requires long and arduous tests, it's
often easier to backport minor fixes than jump to a new version (eg
Deb's X11 4.3 is far far more advanced than X11's original); and finally
Debian packages are often patched to be "more strict" so that they will
work on all *13* supported hardware architectures. Or at least they
aren't afraid to start reforming the world to their own idea(l)s,
sometimes for the worse.
Result: Debian tends to expose subtle bugs in upstream packages. (and in
turn become more stable for the end user)
TclTk 8.4 on debian has threading, so lots more administrative overhead
and tests to keep the threads from colliding and lots more possibilities
for bugs to cause problems than with 8.3.


David:
> I was going to suggest we build against both on Debuan/Ubuntu, but I
> just noticed that tk8.3 is incompatible with tk8.4 on Ubuntu systems
> (selecting one in Synaptic removes the other)

On Debian only the tk8.4-dev package conflicts. Both tcl8.3 and tcl8.4
can be installed. The /etc/alternatives/wish symlink tells the system
which one to use (for me it points to wish8.4). You can only build
against one version. e.g. you can build with tcltk8.3-dev and run with
wish8.4, no problem. I am not sure how the Ubuntu Provides/Conflicts
rules are set up.




Hamish