Re: [Xotcl] XOTcl 1.5.4 available

From: Gustaf Neumann <neumann_at_wu-wien.ac.at>
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:35:48 +0200

Jeff Hobbs schrieb:
>> + 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.
when xotcl is compiled with an 8.4 version of tcl, the binaries will
only work with 8.4,
when compiled with 8.5 the binaries will require the tcl 8.5 stub lib.
>
> 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.
if xotcl is compiled with 8.4, it continues to work in the 8.4 distro as
before. xotcl uses only what's exported via stubs.
>
> I know that some extensions poke deeper (especially OO ones), but we
> were able to maintain binary compat with itcl.
the stubs of tcl 8.5 are not the same as tcl 8.4. What i have seen, itcl
requires the same new interfaces that xotcl uses. do you expect that tcl
8.5 extensions work for tcl 8.4 and vice versa?

-gustaf