[GRASS-dev] WinGRASS needs TclTk 8.4

[Glynn Clements]

William Kyngesburye wrote:

> >>> 	#include "tkMacOSX.h"
> >>> 	#include <tkMacOSXInt.h>
> >>
> >>
> >> These are only needed when using the Aqua TclTk.  X11 TclTk on OSX is
> >> pure unix (and the one I recommend).
> >
> > I would recommend getting the native version to build. It shouldn't be
> > necessary to have X11 installed to use GRASS.
> >
> > Apart from anything else, using X11 is adding another dependency and
> > thus another source of potential problems.
> >
> 
> For now, X11 TclTk on OSX is more reliable than Aqua TclTk.  One thing  
> we can't do much about is that TclTk Aqua is only partially "Aquafied"  
> - some widgets still use the X11 look even though there are nearly  
> exact Aqua equivalents.  Having an application look and behave mostly  
> native can be disconcerting and confusing to the user.  At least in  
> X11 it's all consistent and expected to behave differently.
> 
> And there is a spacing/layout issue, since Aqua widgets are larger.   
> Button labels get clipped a few pixels, and text can flow out of its  
> area.
> 
> There is also a runtime issue in NVIZ.  I didn't look into it closely  
> since GRASS is moving to the Python GUI, and for the above usability  
> reasons.  IIRC, it doesn't display correctly when resizing the  
> window.  Or maybe it was that it didn't display anything until the  
> window was resized once.
> 
> 
> I guess that turned into a bit of a rant.  Keep the tkMacOSX headers -  
> it builds and mostly works.  I just recommend X11.

Look and feel is a minor issue. Being unable to use gis.m or NVIZ
because Apple borked their X11 package yet again is rather more
substantial.

I suspect that Apple cares a lot more about their native GUI and
OpenGL libraries working than they do about their X11 package working.

On both Windows and MacOSX, requiring X11 is a major defect. I don't
feel that we can honestly claim to provide a "MacOSX" version if it
requires X11; that's like having a "Windows" version which requires
Cygwin.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>