otcl fails to configure

[mouse07410 (Mouse)]

Need to resurrect this dinosaur. MacOS Ventura 13.4.1, Xcode-14.3.1.

$ sudo port install tclcl
--->  Computing dependencies for tclcl
The following dependencies will be installed:  otcl
Continue? [Y/n]: 
--->  Fetching archive for otcl
--->  Attempting to fetch otcl-1.9_1.darwin_22.x86_64.tbz2 from https://packages.macports.org/otcl
--->  Attempting to fetch otcl-1.9_1.darwin_22.x86_64.tbz2 from https://nue.de.packages.macports.org/otcl
--->  Attempting to fetch otcl-1.9_1.darwin_22.x86_64.tbz2 from http://atl.us.packages.macports.org/otcl
--->  Configuring otcl
Error: Failed to configure otcl: consult /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_lang_otcl/otcl/work/otcl-1.9/config.log
Error: Failed to configure otcl: configure failure: command execution failed
Error: See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_lang_otcl/otcl/main.log for details.
Error: Follow https://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets if you believe there is a bug.
Error: Processing of port tclcl failed
$

Needless to say, same problem with trying sudo port install otcl.

Appending the log too.

[mouse07410 (Mouse)]

Build (or rather config) log for otcl

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

The log says:

configure:5551: error: Installation of tk seems incomplete or can't be found automatically.
Please correct the problem by telling configure where tk is
using the argument --with-tk=/path/to/package
(perhaps after installing it),
or the package is not required, disable it with --with-tk=no.

So this looks like a duplicate of #14888.

[mouse07410 (Mouse)]

Unfortunately, #14888 has been sitting there for 15 years. it would be nice if fixes suggested there were actually applied. Any idea why more than an entire decade hasn't been enough time to merge them?

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

We don't need more than one ticket open for any given issue. If a ticket does not get sufficient attention, writing to the macports-dev mailing list is a good way to draw attention to it.

MacPorts is run by volunteers. People volunteer to fix things of interest to them. Apparently nobody has had interest in fixing that particular issue. Yes, there are patches attached to that ticket, but there are numerous things wrong with those proposed patches, and they are over 11 years old by now; even they worked 11 years ago, they may not work with the current versions of MacPorts and macOS. So there may be more work involved in updating these ports than simply applying those patches, and nobody has volunteered to do that work.

If you are interested in fixing this issue, please file a pull request.