Can't build _tkinter module using brew install on Mac OS X

[izumiberat]

Documentation
I am using Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7.
I am getting the following message when following the documentation here: https://devguide.python.org/setup/#install-dependencies and running make -s -j2

Python build finished successfully!
The necessary bits to build these optional modules were not found:
_tkinter
To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in detect_modules() for the module's name.

I tried running brew install python-tk, but it didn't resolve the issue. Any ideas?

PR python/devguide#893

[erlend-aasland]

First, the python-tk Homebrew package is not the Tcl/Tk headers and libraries. If you want those, you need to install the tcl-tk package:

$ brew update && brew install tcl-tk

Since Python 3.11, configure uses pkg-config to detect Tcl/Tk. Try this:

# install pkg-config
$ brew update && brew install pkg-config

# assuming you now have pkg-config in your path, and you´ve installed the tcl-tk brew:
$ PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure
$ make

[izumiberat]

@erlend-aasland this is great thanks. It resolved the issue with the only caveat that Python build finished successfully! doesn't show anymore.

One question: for this to work when following the documentation, I ran the command line you provided with this in addition: --with-pydebug --with-openssl=$(brew --prefix openssl) (as it is indicated in the documentation)

The command line I ran is:

PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure --with-pydebug --with-openssl=$(brew --prefix openssl)

Is it ok to have such a long command line? I am asking because I would suggest this line as an update to the documentation to be able to build _tkinter.

---

One more question, is it ok/normal for the message:

Python build finished successfully!

not to show after compiling make -s -j2?

It used to appear just before the message below that is not showing anymore (resolving therefore the current issue I opened):

The necessary bits to build these optional modules were not found:
_tkinter
To find the necessary bits, look in setup.py in detect_modules() for the module's name.

Below the full message I get after running make -s -j2:

Note: Deepfreeze may have added some global objects,
so run 'make regen-global-objects' if necessary.
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/ranlib: file: libpython3.12d.a(dynamic_annotations.o) has no symbols
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/ranlib: file: libpython3.12d.a(pymath.o) has no symbols
CC='gcc' LDSHARED='gcc -bundle -undefined dynamic_lookup ' OPT='-g -Og -Wall' ./python.exe -E ./setup.py -q build
ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/usr/lib/termcap'
renaming build/scripts-3.12/pydoc3 to build/scripts-3.12/pydoc3.12
renaming build/scripts-3.12/idle3 to build/scripts-3.12/idle3.12
renaming build/scripts-3.12/2to3 to build/scripts-3.12/2to3-3.12

---

One final question: how do you add color to your comments??

[erlend-aasland]

@erlend-aasland this is great thanks.

Great, so we close this issue! Glad to help 🙂

It resolved the issue with the only caveat that Python build finished successfully! doesn't show anymore.

It seems like that message is only printed if there are missing modules 😆 I guess we should change that; thanks for the heads-up, I'll follow it up.

The command line I ran is:

PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib/pkgconfig" ./configure --with-pydebug --with-openssl=$(brew --prefix openssl)

Is it ok to have such a long command line?

Yes. You can split it up over multiple lines to make it more readable. Here's my command line to build Python (part of my build-python.sh script):

PKG_SQLITE="$PREFIX/$SQLITE/lib/pkgconfig"
PKG_TCLTK="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib/pkgconfig"

PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_SQLITE:$PKG_TCLTK:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH" \
"$TREE/configure" -C \
  --prefix="$HOME/install" \
  --with-openssl=$(brew --prefix openssl@3) \
  CC="$CC" \
  CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" \
  LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS" \
  $ENABLE_OPTIMIZATIONS \
  $ENABLE_LOAD_EXT \
  $PYDEBUG
make $MAKE_TARGET

(Most of the helper variables are set up earlier in the build script.)

I am asking because I would suggest this line as an update to the documentation to be able to build _tkinter.

That's a very good idea. There's already a PR up regarding this; you could chime in there: python/devguide#891

One final question: how do you add color to your comments??

GitHub Markdown

For the command examples in my previous post, I used three backticks fencing with the console highlighting keyword:

    ```console
    $ brew update ... etc.
    ```

[izumiberat]

@erlend-aasland great thanks very much for your help. For the markdown, I can now see that colors are rendered automatically. I believe there is no way to add colors ourselves. Yes, I created the PR you refer to. I updated it earlier today and it is not relevant anymore to this issue, but I will create a new PR, and link it to this issue for reference.

[erlend-aasland]

Yeah, the colours are rendered automatically, but you've got a lot of different highlighting keywords to choose from (python, c, json, bash, etc.)