Current Tcl/Tk version in Windows build is 8.6.4.2. Tcl/Tk 8.6.6 was released yesterday.

https://sourceforge.net/p/tcl/mailman/message/35246302/

I've done a test build (32-bit Release) and everything went fine.  It looks like we get to drop our patches, which is enough for me to want to do this for 3.6.

We historically haven't kept our Tcl/Tk sources extremely up to date on Windows, though; is there anything compelling in 8.6.[56] to warrant updating for 3.5?

New changeset abfda075eb37 by Zachary Ware in branch 'default':
Issue #27647: Update Windows build to Tcl/Tk 8.6.6
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/abfda075eb37

There have also been a few updates to 8.5 since we last updated the version we ship with 2.7; has there been anything in 8.5.15-19 that we should pick up?

I think 3.4 and 3.5 were pretty current as of .0 release, or certainly as of .0b1.  Have we updated to new unicode (9.0), like tcl?  Martin used to do that.

Larry, Benjamin, what do you think about updating the version of Tcl/Tk shipped with 3.5 and 2.7 on Windows?

Tcl/Tk 8.6.6 Jul 27, 2016
Tcl/Tk 8.5.19 Feb 12, 2016

Currently used releases:

In 3.5: 8.6.4.2
In 2.7: 8.5.15.0

Doesn't seem terribly urgent, so maybe not 2.7.13.

Why not? 8.5.15 is 3 years old. There were 4 bugfix releases since it.

I don't mind if it gets updated.

On Wed, Nov 30, 2016, at 00:01, Serhiy Storchaka wrote:
> 
> Serhiy Storchaka added the comment:
> 
> Why not? 8.5.15 is 3 years old. There were 4 bugfix releases since it.
> 
> ----------
> 
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue27647>
> _______________________________________

Proposed patch updates Tcl/Tk versions to 8.5.19 and Tix version to 8.4.3.6 in Python 2.7 on Windows and Mac OS X. But needed to update http://svn.python.org/projects/external/ . Is there special script or instruction?

Please don't change Mac/BuildScript.  The code there to build Tcl and Tk is currently not used.

Hi,

I came across a StackOverflow question that apparently turned up a bug in Tk itself with regards to Spinboxes on Windows Aero themes.  The question is here:
http://stackoverflow.com/q/30783603/

And I did a deep-dive of the issue here as the accepted answer:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/36393680/

This led to someone from Tk noticing, and they patched the bug in Tk upstream in this commit:
http://core.tcl.tk/tk/info/f91b7065bf1bf655

I do not know if that commit is in a current Tk release (doubtful).  Could you guys look at picking it up for the next Python 2.7/3.x release?  It only affects Windows platforms using Aero.  Classic mode spinboxes or other Tk themes (e.g., clam) are unaffected.

It'd also be awesome if Tk-8.6 could go into the next Python 2.7 release under Windows.  That has PNG support for Tk's PhotoImage class, which would make working with icons and transparency a *lot* easier.

Changing tk in 2.7.z from 8.5 to 8.6 would add new features, which we don't usually do in bugfix releases.

I don't think we should update it in 3.5.  That sounds destabilizing.

@Terry: This only applies on the Windows release of Python.  On both Linux and FreeBSD, you can wind up with Python 2.7 and Tk-8.6.x by default in some instances:

# pkg info | grep python27
python27-2.7.13_1              Interpreted object-oriented programming language
# pkg info | grep tk86
tk86-8.6.6                     Graphical toolkit for Tcl

That's a FreeBSD-11.0-RELEASE install on a laptop.

Is there guidance anywhere on which Tk version a given Python version prefers to be used with?  E.g., is Python 2.7 only supported against Tk-8.5.x, leaving 8.6.x users on their own?

AFAIK, the Windows x.y compiled release and installer is normally updated to the latest stable tcl/tk, about the time of beta 1, and never changed for bugfix releases.  2.7 was an exception because of its long life and because later 8.5.z releases has some critical bugfixes, such as working with European keyboards.

I believe the current OSX binary compiles _tkinter against tcl/tk 8.5, and we recommend replacing the Apple's old 8.5 with the latest 8.5 from ActiveState, and that people who instead install ActiveState 8.6 have to make or obtain a new Python binary that compiles _tkinter for 8.6. (Prior to Py3.6, there was also a Mac release for older Macs, and it was compiled for tcl/tk 8.4.)

We don't compile Python on *nix and there are multiple versions of tcl/tk in use.  I would prefer to have the latest tcl/tk at least for bugfixes, and a Python binary that can use if, even if tkinter does not give access to the latest tk features.

I changed title to match what might and, I think, should happen.

My take: x.y is normally followed within 2 years by x.(y+1), which on Windows includes the latest tcl/tk.  So, on Windows, anyone who wants the new tcl/tk can upgrade to the newer Python.  For 2.7, there will be no 2.8 with newer tcl/tk.  So we updated tcl/tk once already within 2.7 and it seems time to do so again.  If there are more 8.5 bugfixes before the last 2.7 release in 2020, we should do so a third time.

Fair enough.  I am stuck working with 2.7 for quite a while longer due to platform constraints, but hopefully can migrate over to 3.x at some point.  Was worth asking :)

At least try to cherrypick that one commit from the TCL/Tk source I referenced so that the Spinbox works correctly under Vista/Aero.  I am not sure when that might wind up in a future Tk release.