Re: [TCLCORE] Adding a "zipfs" tag to the build-info command

[Marc C. <cul...@gm...>]

It may be worth mentioning that embedding the zip file does not work on
macOS ARM systems.  Adding data at the end of a mach binary corrupts the
binary, making it not loadable.  The is a hack which works on Intel systems
by placing the zip file inside of an arch block  in a fat binary.
However,  on ARM systems every arch in a fat binary must be signed
(possibly with an ad-hoc signature) and the signature must go at the end of
the block.  Adding data at the end of a zip fle corrupts it.

So I would recommend always disabling embedding the zip file on macOS.  It
just causes breakage.  It is currently disabled for framework builds but is
the default for prefix builds.

- Marc

On Thu, Aug 7, 2025 at 12:58 AM apnmbx-public--- via Tcl-Core <
tcl...@li...> wrote:

> Thanks Harald. Also, I see other tags are present that are not mentioned
> in any TIP so presumably no TIP required for this.
>
> As an aside, zipfs is actually a misnomer as zipfs support and command is
> *always* present. The --disable-zipfs does not remove the functionality, it
> only disables the embedding of the zip file. I'll also use no-zipfs to be
> consistent with that.
>
> /Ashok
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harald Oehlmann <har...@el...>
> Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2025 12:43 AM
> To: apn...@ya...; apnmbx-public--- via Tcl-Core <
> tcl...@li...>
> Subject: Re: [TCLCORE] Adding a "zipfs" tag to the build-info command
>
> As Jan explained to me, the tags are extensable by nature.
> But I don't see this in TIP599, as it says "may be extended in future".
>
> As the "normal" value is no tag, you may add the tag "no-zfs", as
> "no-threads".
>
> Take care,
> Harald
>
> > apnmbx-public--- via Tcl-Core <tcl...@li...> hat am
> 06.08.2025 19:35 CEST geschrieben:
> >
> >
> > I would like to add a “zipfs” tag to the {tcl,tk}::build-info command
> (TIP 599) that would indicate if the {tcl,tk}_library was embedded as a zip
> file into the binary. Does this require a TIP? I would hope not given that
> the TIP suggests third-parties could add their own tags.
> >
> > The primary use is in the test suite. Based on my manual testing, it is
> my belief that the Tk test suite actually never tests the embedded zip at
> all as it sets the TK_LIBRARY environment variable. Further, on macOS I
> *think* based on github CI logs, even tclsh zipfs builds fail to find the
> embedded ZIP and instead land up using the init.tcl found by searching up
> the directory hierarchy.
> >
> > The tag would help detect such cases, for example, by checking the value
> of $tcl_library corresponds to the expected result if the zipfs tag was
> present.
> >
> > (all this is based on my not being aware of any way to check at runtime
> if the build was configured with –enable-zipfs or –disable-zipfs. If
> someone can identify a method for this, the tag may not be needed)
> >
> > /Ashok
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