1Tcl 8.5 for Windows
2
31. Introduction
4---------------
5
6This is the directory where you configure and compile the Windows
7version of Tcl.  This directory also contains source files for Tcl
8that are specific to Microsoft Windows.
9
10The information in this file is maintained on the web at:
11
12	http://www.tcl.tk/doc/howto/compile.html#win
13
142. Compiling Tcl
15----------------
16
17In order to compile Tcl for Windows, you need the following:
18
19	Tcl 8.5 Source Distribution (plus any patches)
20
21	and
22
23	Visual C++ 6 or newer
24
25	or
26
27	Linux + MinGW-w64 [http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/]
28	    (win32 or win64)
29
30	or
31
32	Cygwin + MinGW-w64 [http://cygwin.com/install.html]
33	    (win32 or win64)
34
35	or
36
37	Darwin + MinGW-w64 [http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/]
38	    (win32 or win64)
39
40	or
41
42	Msys + MinGW-w64 [http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net/]
43	    (win32 or win64)
44
45	or
46
47	Msys + MinGW [http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml]
48	    (win32 only)
49
50
51In practice, this release is built with Visual C++ 6.0 and the TEA
52Makefile.
53
54If you are building with Visual C++, in the "win" subdirectory of the
55source release, you will find "makefile.vc".  This is the makefile for the
56Visual C++ compiler and uses the stock NMAKE tool.  Detailed directions for
57using it, are in the comments of "makefile.vc".  A quick example would be:
58
59	C:\tcl_source\win\>nmake -f makefile.vc
60
61There is also a Developer Studio workspace and project file, too, if you
62would like to use them.
63
64If you are building with Linux, Cygwin or Msys, you can use the configure
65script that lives in the win subdirectory. The Linux/Cygwin/Msys based
66configure/build process works just like the UNIX one, so you will want
67to refer to ../unix/README for available configure options.
68
69If you want 64-bit executables (x86_64), you need to configure using
70the --enable-64bit option. Make sure that the x86_64-w64-mingw32
71compiler is present. For Cygwin this compiler can be found in the
72"mingw64-x86_64-gcc-core" package, which can be installed through
73the normal Cygwin install process. If you only want 32-bit executables,
74the "mingw64-i686-gcc-core" package is what you need. For Linux, Darwin
75and Msys, you can download a suitable win32 or win64 compiler from
76[https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/]
77
78Use the Makefile "install" target to install Tcl.  It will install it
79according to the prefix options you provided in the correct directory
80structure.
81
82Note that in order to run tclsh85.exe, you must ensure that tcl85.dll is
83on your path, in the system directory, or in the directory containing
84tclsh85.exe.
85
86Note: Tcl no longer provides support for Win32s.
87
883. Test suite
89-------------
90
91This distribution contains an extensive test suite for Tcl.  Some of the
92tests are timing dependent and will fail from time to time.  If a test is
93failing consistently, please send us a bug report with as much detail as
94you can manage to our tracker:
95
96	http://core.tcl.tk/tcl/reportlist
97
98In order to run the test suite, you build the "test" target using the
99appropriate makefile for your compiler.
100