tcl@8.6.9 : port file has invalid checksum.

[SerpentChris (Chris Calderon)]

The last commit on GitHub that updated the checksum was on November 15, but the last time the source archive as updated was November 16. The file must have been changed without a version number change. I couldn't find an older version of the file but I did grab the latest version form the SourceForge download page, and check the sha256sum. It is different from the one in the port file, and equal to the one my MacPorts installation complains about when comparing.

[chrstphrchvz (Christopher Chavez)]

The distfiles for both tcl and tk were stealth updated on 2018-11-16; the new Tcl distfile contains a fix for a ​base64 encoding bug, and the new Tk distfile fixes a ​severe memory leak bug on macOS.

However the new distfile for Tk 8.6.9 contains another regression, leading to Tk 8.6.9.1 being released for Mac a few hours ago.

Only a new distfile for Tk was posted though; the latest Tcl will still be 8.6.9 from 2018-11-16. I'm not sure if the ​usual advice for handling stealth updates by changing dist_subdir is usable in this case, because tcl, tk, and many dependent ports already have this set to dist_subdir tcltk.

[chrstphrchvz (Christopher Chavez)]

Johsua Root (on IRC) says that the dist_subdir workaround would still be usable; if I understood correctly it would be to use a subdirectory of the existing tcltk one. I have not yet tried this approach.

I informed the Tcl/Tk team (via Tcl Chatroom) of the effect certain downstream users such as MacPorts encounter when distfiles are republished with identical filenames, and asked whether they might consider a publishing a renamed copy. The person responsible for publishing their distfiles, who is flustered over having to be republish 8.6.9 once already, took issue with the suggestion to publish a renamed copy for downstream users in this situation, as well as with the fact that downstream users assume that published files won't have their checksums changed, and that downstream users adopted the published files as "final" before a formal announcement was made via their mailing list. As MacPorts hasn't exhausted its options for working around the issue, it was probably wrong for me to bring up the subject or suggest that the upstream developer consider taking any action; I'm sorry for doing so, and did not mean to misrepresent the MacPorts community by doing so. However I hope that the interaction I had with them offers some insight into what standards the Tcl/Tk team plans to hold regarding its releases.

Also, I hope that I did not mislead MacPorts into adopting Tcl 8.6.9 earlier than it should have. My intent in opening ​https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/2971 was to share what I was using to test the prerelease, as I have so far relied on MacPorts to build Tcl/Tk rather than building it completely on my own. It was also my own choice for being an "early adopter" of macOS Mojave before there was a released version of Tk 8.6 operational on it.

[chrstphrchvz (Christopher Chavez)]

In 654c18fdb8a5fed041452271a070b39c51c49c65/macports-ports (master):

tk: update to 8.6.9.1

See #57636#comment:2

• Temporarily append ".1" in distname; remove in next release
• Drop patch-macosx-tkMacOSXXStubs.c.diff (incorporated upstream)
• Add patch-macosx-tkMacOSXEntry.c.diff to fix spinboxes on +quartz

[MarcusCalhoun-Lopez (Marcus Calhoun-Lopez)]

Thank you for you effort on this issue.

[MarcusCalhoun-Lopez (Marcus Calhoun-Lopez)]

In 3432f2e1dba2d9fed531ea45dfe28c0d6cb1660a/macports-ports (master):

tcl: accommodate stealth update

Fixes #57636