Re: [Xotcl] XOTcl 1.5.4 available

From: Jeff Hobbs <jeffh_at_activestate.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:13:44 -0700

Gustaf Neumann wrote:
> Major changes relative to 1.5.4 are:
        ...
> + provided compatibility with Tcl 8.5
> (currently, this requires the verison of Tcl 8.5
> from CVS head, including the changes for VarReform

 From what I understand of the patches, this is all done for
source-level compatibility. IOW, you compile with 8.4, it works with
only 8.4. You compile with 8.5, it works only with 8.5.

This represents a problem for distro developers (such as myself) because
we base our extension compiling on 8.4. The ActiveState teapot is
populated with 8.4-built extensions, all working on the assumption that
stubs is our friend.

I know that some extensions poke deeper (especially OO ones), but we
were able to maintain binary compat with itcl. Even if it is only a
special compile-time option, I'd like to encourage looking for a binary
compat (stubs supported) solution, as it will make it easier for the
transition users that will be more prevalent as 8.5 stabilizes.

Jeff