[vtkusers] Problem with building VTK 5.0.3 with Python/Tk on Mac OSX 10.4.1

Thu Dec 13 10:04:39 EST 2007

On 12/13/07 10:08 AM, Thomas, JMH (Jens) said:

>I'm largely answering my own question here in case what I've found is of
>use to anyone else, but also in case what I've discovered qualifies as a bug.
>
>It seems that the default build for VTK on Mac OSX has been changed from
>Carbon to Cocoa.

Hi Jens,

I never received your reply quoted way at the bottom, I don't know why. 
In any case, the change you noted is not a bug, but is indeed a recent
change to CVS.  It was discussed on the vtk-dev list.  The reason is
that Apple has announced that Carbon is not moving to 64 bit, and so
it's days are numbered, thus we want to discourage its use as a default.

>However (from what I can make out from the root
>CMakeLists.txt file and the file vtkTkRenderWidget.cxx),  it looks like
>the Tk functionality is only available with Carbon or X.

You may want to read:
<http://www.nabble.com/No-64-bit-Carbon--3D-Problem-for-Tk-Aqua--
to11163138.html>

>There is a block of code in the root CMakeLists.txt that only turns on
>VTK_USE_TK if Cocoa isn't being used and VTK_DISABLE_TK_INIT isn't set.
>As I had turned on the Python and Tcl wrappers but was using the default
>Cocoa option, the Tk stuff wasn't being built, triggering the error I
>was seeing.

It would be good to improve VTK's CMakeLists.txt to warn if VTK_USE_TK
is on but VTK_USE_CARBON is not.  I suggest you file a bug and if you
know enough about CMake a patch too.

Take care,

Sean

>I've reverted to the Carbon build and have now managed to get my
>universal build working.
>
>The build wasn't completely trouble-free though, as there were still
>problems with the linking of the files:
>
>libvtkCommonTCL.5.1.0.dylib
>libvtkRenderingTCL.5.1.0.dylib
>bin/vtk
>
>as the tcl/tk libraries weren't included on the link line.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Jens
>
>
>
>Hi Sean,
>
>Thanks for getting back to me.
>
> >Also, do you really mean 10.4.1?  Or do you mean 10.4.11 or 10.5.1?  In
> >any case, which version of Xcode do you have?
>
>Sorry - that was a typo, it's OSX 10.4.11 with Xcode 2.5
>
> >>I've attached my CmakeCache.txt and have included some additional
> >>information below in case it is of any use.
>
> >1200 lines of text is a lot... :)  What settings did you change from
> >their default?
>
>BUILD_SHARED_LIBS: ON
>CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES: ppc;i386
>VTK_WRAP_PYTHON: ON
>VTK_WRAP_TCL: ON
>
>BUILD_TESTING: OFF
>CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE: ON
>
> >If you are on 10.5, I suggest CVS CMake also.
>
>I've redone the build with CVS versions of both VTK and CMake. The build 
>fails twice as -ltcl is missing from the link stage for 
>libvtkCommonTCL.5.1.0.dylib and the file vtk right at the end of the build.
>
>I was able to fix the former by editing the file 
>Common/CMakeFiles/vtkCommonTCL.dir/link.txt to add -ltcl and the latter 
>by manually executing the link for vtk and appending -ltcl.
>
>This allows the build to run to completion.
>
>However, if I install the python files (using setup.py) and then try and 
>run the file:
>
>/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-
>packages/vtk/tk/vtkLoadPythonTkWidgets.py
>
>It fails with the error:
>
>  File "./vtkTkRenderWidget.py", line 466, in <module>
>    vtkRenderWidgetConeExample()
>  File "./vtkTkRenderWidget.py", line 443, in vtkRenderWidgetConeExample
>    pane = vtkTkRenderWidget(root,width=300,height=300)
>  File "./vtkTkRenderWidget.py", line 81, in __init__
>    vtkLoadPythonTkWidgets(master.tk)
>  File 
>"/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-
>packages/vtk/tk/vtkLoadPythonTkWidgets.py", 
>line 67, in vtkLoadPythonTkWidgets
>    interp.call('load', filename)
>_tkinter.TclError: image not found
>NSCreateObjectFileImageFromFile() error: not a Mach-O MH_BUNDLE file
>
>
>It appears it's trying to load the file 
>libvtkRenderingPythonTkWidgets.dylib, but this file hasn't been built 
>(which I think is because the Cmake variable VTK_USE_TK hasn't been set, 
>even though the Tcl and Tk libraries were found during the configure).
>
>Is there an easy way to fix this?
>
> >Lastly, there are some Mac dashboards that enable TCL, you may want to
> >look at their settings.
>
>I'm not very familiar with dashboard, so it's quite possible I missed 
>something, but've looked at
>
>http://www.vtk.org/Testing/Dashboard/20071210-0300-Nightly/Dashboard.html
>
>and couldn't find any that had the python and tcl wrapping turned on.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Jens
>
>--
>____________________________________________________________
>Sean McBride, B. Eng                 sean at rogue-research.com
>Rogue Research                        www.rogue-research.com
>Mac Software Developer              Montréal, Québec, Canada
>
>
>
>
>-- 
>===================================================================
>Jens Thomas,                email:  j.m.h.thomas at dl.ac.uk
>STFC Daresbury Lab,         tel:    +44-1925-603849
>Warrington,                 fax:    +44-1925-603634
>WA4 4AD,  UK.               http:   http://www.cse.scitech.ac.uk
>===================================================================
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>This is the private VTK discussion list. 
>Please keep messages on-topic. Check the FAQ at: http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/
>VTK_FAQ
>Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
>http://www.vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers
>