The test was added by the issue #18101 (changeset 9486c07929a1).

On FreeBSD 7.2, Tcl version is 8.6b1 (seen in the test output).

http://buildbot.python.org/all/builders/x86%20FreeBSD%207.2%203.x/builds/5560/steps/test/logs/stdio

======================================================================
FAIL: test_split (test.test_tcl.TclTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/home/db3l/buildarea/3.x.bolen-freebsd7/build/Lib/test/test_tcl.py", line 563, in test_split
    self.assertEqual(split(arg), res, msg=arg)
AssertionError: Tuples differ: (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,)) != ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4')

First differing element 0:
12
12

- (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,))
+ ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4') : 12 \u20ac \xe2\x82\xac 3.4

======================================================================
FAIL: test_splitlist (test.test_tcl.TclTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/home/db3l/buildarea/3.x.bolen-freebsd7/build/Lib/test/test_tcl.py", line 513, in test_splitlist
    self.assertEqual(splitlist(arg), res, msg=arg)
AssertionError: Tuples differ: (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,)) != ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4')

First differing element 0:
12
12

- (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,))
+ ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4') : 12 \u20ac \xe2\x82\xac 3.4

New changeset e6cfbc3e2ed9 by Victor Stinner in branch 'default':
Issue #22334: Add debug traces to test_tcl
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/e6cfbc3e2ed9

More likely there is a bug in Tcl 8.6b1 (as in Tcl before 8.5.5).

Perhaps David B can update Tcl and Tk on the buildbot? Note, Tcl/Tk 8.6.2 (and 8.5.16) were just released a few days ago.

> More likely there is a bug in Tcl 8.6b1 (as in Tcl before 8.5.5).

If the bug is not present in Tcl 8.6.2, we can skip the test on the version Tcl 8.6b1.

Debug trace from x86 FreeBSD 6.4 3.x:

======================================================================
FAIL: test_splitlist (test.test_tcl.TclTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/home/db3l/buildarea/3.x.bolen-freebsd/build/Lib/test/test_tcl.py", line 517, in test_splitlist
    'arg=%a, %s' % (arg, dbg_info))
AssertionError: Tuples differ: (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,)) != ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4')

First differing element 0:
12
12

- (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,))
+ ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4') : arg=<list object: '12 \u20ac \xe2\x82\xac 3.4'>, want objects? True, Tcl version: (8, 5), Tk patchlevel: (8, 5, 4)

Debug trace on FreeBSD 7.2:

======================================================================
FAIL: test_splitlist (test.test_tcl.TclTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/home/db3l/buildarea/3.x.bolen-freebsd7/build/Lib/test/test_tcl.py", line 517, in test_splitlist
    'arg=%a, %s' % (arg, dbg_info))
AssertionError: Tuples differ: (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,)) != ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4')

First differing element 0:
12
12

- (12, '\u20ac', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,))
+ ('12', '\u20ac', '\xe2\x82\xac', '3.4') : arg=<list object: '12 \u20ac \xe2\x82\xac 3.4'>, want objects? True, Tcl version: (8, 6), Tk patchlevel: (8, -1)

> More likely there is a bug in Tcl 8.6b1 (as in Tcl before 8.5.5).

@Serhiy: So what do you suggest using debug traces?

I suggest just upgrade Tcl on this buildbot to release version of 8.6. Or downgrade to release version of 8.5 or 8.4. No need to test Python with beta version of Tcl. 8.6.0 was released years ago.

The test no longer failed since fixing full Tcl version parsing in cebe15821a0c/5bf0d9086cfc/9f13e9385186. It is now just skipped on non-final Tcl 8.6.

In any case I suggest to upgrade Tcl/Tk on this buildbot.

Sorry for noise; I typo-d when linking a PR on GitHub. Unlinked.