Build Tcl and Tk v8.6 on Windows for R

We follow the CRAN Tcl/Tk build instructions used for the current Tcl distribution shipped with R on Windows.

• Currently the "Building the CHM help" part is missing in this guide

Also, please find the alternate way to compile Tcl here

• mingw build instructions here

Using Microsoft VC

All the following commands assume that the project folder root is at

C:\buildVC

Download

This page provides the url's to all the sources needed to compile Tcl, Tk and R. You can also download the buildVC.zip file and extract it into the C:\buildVC folder and then just follow the command line parts.

Download the following files into C:\buildVC (see Tcl and Tk sources)

• Tcl Sources
• Tk Sources

Unzip

In cmd.exe execute

cd C:\buildVC
mkdir build32
mkdir build64

unzip tcl864-src.zip -d build32
unzip tcl864-src.zip -d build64
unzip tk864-src.zip -d build32
unzip tk864-src.zip -d build64

Compile 32bit Tcl and Tk

Setting the Path and Environment Variables for Command-Line Builds (adjust according to Visual Studio version installed). In cmd.exe enter

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"

Now build Tcl

cd C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4 release
nmake -f makefile.vc install INSTALLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\Tcl

and then Tk

cd C:\buildVC\build32\tk8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4 release
nmake -f makefile.vc install INSTALLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\Tcl

Now check if this is indeed a 32bit build. Execute C:\buildVC\build32\Tcl\bin\wish86t.exe and enter

set tcl_platform(pointerSize)

if the returned number is 4 then the 32bit build was successful.

Run the tests. These may take a long time.

cd C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4 test

cd C:\buildVC\build32\tk8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build32\tcl8.6.4 test

Compile 64bit Tcl and Tk

Now we need to setup the 64bit build environment variables (read more here)

Start a new cmd.exe and enter

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64

Then, as before

cd C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4 release
nmake -f makefile.vc install INSTALLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\Tcl

cd C:\buildVC\build64\tk8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4 release
nmake -f makefile.vc install INSTALLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\Tcl

Check if this is indeed a 64bit build. Execute C:\buildVC\build64\Tcl\bin\wish86t.exe and enter

set tcl_platform(pointerSize)

if the returned number is 8 then the 64bit build was successful.

Run the tests

cd C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4 test

cd C:\buildVC\build64\tk8.6.4\win
nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=C:\buildVC\build64\tcl8.6.4 test

Additional Extensions

Currently, the Tcl build that ships with R has also the Tcl libraries BWidget and Tktable installed. The following instructions add those two libraries to the 32bit and 64bit builds.

Download the following two files into the C:\buildVC folder

• bwidget-1.9.9.zip from Bwidget sourceforge
• Tktable 2.10 did not work for me, so I downloaded tktable-tktable.tar.gz, the last CVS commit (ActiveTcl also uses version 2.11, though I am not sure whether it is the same commit), from Tktable sourceforge form the CVS repository here

in cmd.exe run

cd C:\buildVC

unzip bwidget-1.9.9.zip -d build32
unzip bwidget-1.9.9.zip -d build64

tar -zxvf tktable-tktable.tar.gz --directory build32
tar -zxvf tktable-tktable.tar.gz --directory build64

BWidget

The bwidget extension needs no compilation

cd C:\buildVC
mv build32\bwidget-1.9.9 build32\Tcl\lib\BWidget
mv build64\bwidget-1.9.9 build64\Tcl\lib\BWidget

Tktable

Thanks to Ashok P. Nadkarni who provided new makefiles to compile Tktable for 32bit and 64bit Tcl builds on Windows. Theses makefiles must be downloaded here and copied into the C:\buildVC\ folder. Then run

cd C:\buildVC
unzip -o tktable_makefiles.zip -d C:\buildVC\build32\tktable\win
unzip -o tktable_makefiles.zip -d C:\buildVC\build64\tktable\win

Then, for the 32bit build start a new cmd.exe and enter

cd C:\buildVC\build32\tktable\win

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat"

nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl
nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl install

and to test run

nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build32/Tcl test

and for the 64bit build start a new cmd.exe and enter

cd C:\buildVC\build64\tktable\win

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64

nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl
nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl install

and to test run

nmake -f makefile.vc TCLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl INSTALLDIR=c:/buildVC/build64/Tcl test

Final Tcl builds

Finally, the 32bit and 66bit Tcl builds are in

• C:\buildVC\build32\Tcl
• C:\buildVC\build64\Tcl

Compile 32bit R with new Tcl build

You can find the detailed R build instructions here.

Note that building R requires Rtools which can be downloaded here. Also, download the recommended software from here and save it into C:\buildVC

Either download the current release or the

• current R release
• pre-release for R-patched
• R-devel

We use R-patched and gcc-4.6.3 here. Download the R-patched file into C:\buildVC. Also download the recommended external software and save it into C:\buildVC from here.

Unpack the files

cd C:\buildVC
tar -zxvf R-patched_2016-01-29_r70052.tar.gz
mv R-patched R32
unzip local323.zip -d c:\buildVC\R32\extsoft

Modify the MkRules

cd C:\buildVC\R32\src\gnuwin32
cp MkRules.dist MkRules.local
sed -i 's!# EXT_LIBS = $(LOCAL_SOFT)!EXT_LIBS = C:/buildVC/R32/extsoft!' MkRules.local

Create the C:\tmp folder if it does not exist and set the TMPDIR environment variable to C:\tmp

set TMPDIR=C:\tmp

Now copy the Tcl builds

cp -R C:\buildVC\build32\Tcl C:\buildVC\R32

## otherwise linker can not find -ltk85 and -ltcl85
cd C:\buildVC\R32\Tcl\bin
cp tcl86t.dll tcl85.dll
cp tk86t.dll tk85.dll

Now compile R

cd C:\buildVC\R32\src\gnuwin32
make all recommended 

Then test if R has been built with Tcl version

library(tcltk)
.Tcl('set tcl_version')

which should return 8.6

Build 64bit R

cd C:\buildVC
tar -zxvf R-patched_2016-01-29_r70052.tar.gz
mv R-patched R64
unzip local323.zip -d c:\buildVC\R64\extsoft

Modify the MkRules

cd C:\buildVC\R64\src\gnuwin32
cp MkRules.dist MkRules.local
sed -i 's!# EXT_LIBS = $(LOCAL_SOFT)!EXT_LIBS = C:/buildVC/R64/extsoft!' MkRules.local
sed -i 's!# MULTI =!MULTI = 64!' MkRules.local

Now copy the Tcl builds

cp -R C:\buildVC\build64\Tcl C:\buildVC\R64\Tcl

## otherwise linker can not find -ltk85 and -ltcl85
cd C:\buildVC\R64\Tcl\bin
cp tcl86t.dll tcl85.dll
cp tk86t.dll tk85.dll

Now compile R

cd C:\buildVC\R64\src\gnuwin32
make all recommended 

This does not work with the error message

making tcltk_win.d from tcltk_win.c
gcc -m64 -I"../../../../include" -DNDEBUG -I "../../../../Tcl"/include -DWin32 -
I../../../../src/include -DHAVE_CONFIG_H    -I"C:/buildVC/R64/extsoft/include"
   -O2 -Wall  -std=gnu99 -mtune=core2 -c init.c -o init.o
In file included from init.c:22:0:
tcltk.h:25:17: fatal error: tcl.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make[4]: *** [init.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [mksrc-win2] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: *** [R] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2