tk +quartz: strange focus behaviour on 10.4/PPC

[christopherglong@…]

I have a PowerPC computer running 10.4 Tiger. I can't seem to get py-tkinter to work properly. When I try testing it using the following code, I get different results, depending on which variants of tk I use:

import _tkinter
import Tkinter
Tkinter._test()

When I try tk +darwin +quartz, I get the attached window, which stops responding and has to be force quit.

When I try simply tk +darwin, I get this error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/lib/python2.4/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 3667, in _test
    root = Tk()
  File "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.4/lib/python2.4/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1569, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: couldn't connect to display ":0"

Any ideas?

[christopherglong@…]

Result of tk +darwin +quartz

[christopherglong@…]

I ran the same test on python26 and got the same results. Therefore, I think the problem isn't with py-tkinter, but rather with tk. Strangely, unlike with most tickets regarding tk such as #22180, I have no problem building it, just using it.

[mf2k (Frank Schima)]

FYI, your example works fine for me with python26 on Snow Leopard. That exact dialog box appears but not in aqua because i have the default tk (i.e. X11) installed:

$ port installed tk
The following ports are currently installed:
  tk @8.5.8_0+darwin (active)

What version of X11 are you running? I'm not even sure which version of XQuartz runs on Tiger.

Also, I know it is not clear, but you should never select platform variants like +darwin. Those are used automatically as needed by port.

[christopherglong@…]

Yeah, it works fine on my SL machine too. What's strangest to me is that I completely reinstalled every single port on my Tiger machine and it still gives me these results. When I open the About window for X11.app in /Applications/Utilities/ on 10.4, I get:

X11 1.1.3 - XFree86 4.4.0

And yeah, I know to not manually add platform variants when installing ports; it just looked funny here without it. ;)

[christopherglong@…]

So, I started tinkering with this some more, specifically with wish. I found some interesting observations:

Running wish with tk +quartz gives some strange results. Specifically, the graphics window appears, and the command prompt works. However, I still can't give focus to the graphics window; when I hover over it, the cursor changes to a beachball (the Dock and Activity Monitor report it as not responding). Despite this, it still responds to commands sent to it from the Terminal. The window size changes depending on the length of labels placed into it. It does not redraw automatically; labels and buttons only become visible when a new object has been added to it or when Exposé is activated.

Running wish with regular tk returns the following error message:

Application initialization failed: couldn't connect to display ":0"

However, if I open X11.app first manually, it runs perfectly (whether it is launched from Terminal.app or xterm). Having X11.app open also fixes my original Python command (at least with regular tk). Like #17463, it minimizes upon launch, but still behaves normally.

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

As you've discovered, Tiger doesn't automatically launch X11 for you. So that just leaves the +quartz issues.

[petrrr]

Cc Me!

[jmroot (Joshua Root)]

Python 2.4 is just about to go away. Is this reproducible with a recent python and current tk?

[mojca (Mojca Miklavec)]

Cc Me!

[mf2k (Frank Schima)]

See #53012.

[MarcusCalhoun-Lopez (Marcus Calhoun-Lopez)]

This ticket is no longer relevant since the +quartz variant ​no longer exists on older systems.