[MACTCL] Xcode 4.3 and Tcl/Tk

[Kevin W. <kw...@co...>]

Hi all,

Apple released Xcode 4.3 this week, and the new version has some 
significant differences over previous iterations of the IDE. Xcode no 
longer installs in /Developer, but is instead a single app bundle that 
installs in /Applications. Additionally, Xcode no longer installs 
numerous command-line tools such as llvm, clang, gcc, etc. These can 
either be installed from Xcode 4.3's preferences menu, or as a separate 
download from Apple's developer site.

The reason I'm mentioning this is that I ran into significant issues 
trying to patch and build a new version of Tk with Xcode 4.3. (I'm not 
alone in this respect. Many open-source projects, such as MacPorts, 
Fink, and Homebrew are also finding a lot of their packages are breaking 
because of the changes in Xcode.) Tk couldn't find standard headers like 
stdio.h, let alone the Cocoa and Carbon headers it depends on for the 
Aqua version.

After a lot of Googling, trial and error, I got a new build of Tcl and 
Tk to work. Here's what I did:

1. Before installing Xcode 4.3 from the Mac App Store, I removed all 
previous installations of Xcode using the uninstall script that is found 
in /Developer. (Xcode 4.3 also allows you to do this.) I did this to 
avoid path conflicts.

2. Installed Xcode 4.3 and the command-line tools.

3. Ran this command: sudo xcode-select -switch 
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/. This command points system 
resources to the correct header paths, command-line tools, etc. if you 
have the full Xcode installation.

After this, I had to rebuild Tcl and Tk from scratch, and everything ran 
smoothly.

Apple also has made the command-line tools available as a download that 
does not require the full Xcode installation. I haven't tested this 
setup, so I can't speak to how it works with open-source software; my 
guess is that the xcode-select command would need to be run, possibly to 
point to a different location. The list archives and bug trackers of 
MacPorts, Fink, and Homebrew are full of discussion about this over the 
past several days, and it's not fully clear to me how they are resolving 
the issue or what setup they are recommending for end users.

This release of Xcode was a bit bumpy for open-source projects, and I 
hope this basic discussion of what worked for me will be helpful to others.

Thanks,
Kevin
-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com