3.11 build reports missing _tkinter on Ubuntu 18.04

[vient]

Bug report

Python 3.11 build on Ubuntu 18.04 reports checking for stdlib extension module _tkinter... missing even if all necessary packages are installed. This does not happen on Ubuntu 20.04, the difference that I noticed is that 20.04 packages include .pc files for pkg-config while on 18.04 they are not.

Installed packages on 18.04:

ii libtcl8.6:amd64 8.6.8+dfsg-3 amd64 Tcl (the Tool Command Language) v8.6 - run-time library files
ii tcl 8.6.0+9 amd64 Tool Command Language (default version) - shell
ii tcl-dev:amd64 8.6.0+9 amd64 Tool Command Language (default version) - development files
ii tcl8.6 8.6.8+dfsg-3 amd64 Tcl (the Tool Command Language) v8.6 - shell
ii tcl8.6-dev:amd64 8.6.8+dfsg-3 amd64 Tcl (the Tool Command Language) v8.6 - development files

# dpkg -l | grep tk
ii libtk8.6:amd64 8.6.8-4 amd64 Tk toolkit for Tcl and X11 v8.6 - run-time files
ii tk 8.6.0+9 amd64 Toolkit for Tcl and X11 (default version) - windowing shell
ii tk-dev:amd64 8.6.0+9 amd64 Toolkit for Tcl and X11 (default version) - development files
ii tk8.6 8.6.8-4 amd64 Tk toolkit for Tcl and X11 v8.6 - windowing shell
ii tk8.6-blt2.5 2.5.3+dfsg-4 amd64 graphics extension library for Tcl/Tk - library
ii tk8.6-dev:amd64 8.6.8-4 amd64 Tk toolkit for Tcl and X11 v8.6 - development files

Dockerfile, RUN ./configure eventually prints that _tkinter and _uuid are missing

FROM ubuntu:18.04
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

WORKDIR /python
RUN apt update
RUN apt install --yes software-properties-common wget tar
RUN add-apt-repository --yes --update --enable-source ppa:deadsnakes
RUN apt-get build-dep --yes python3.11
RUN wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.0/Python-3.11.0.tar.xz
RUN tar xvf Python-3.11.0.tar.xz

WORKDIR /python/Python-3.11.0
RUN ./configure
ENTRYPOINT /bin/bash

Your environment

• CPython versions tested on: 3.11.0
• Operating system and architecture: Ubuntu 18.04.6 amd64

[vient]

I know that this procedure is not the same as in building guide. I tried to perform steps listed there (edit sources.list, install all mentioned packages), and while _uuid did appear, _tkinter is still reported as missing.

[asottile]

this was due to #31698 -- here's (for example) what deadsnakes does since 18.04 is missing pkg-config information for tkinter: https://github.com/deadsnakes/python3.11/compare/c02751ae7c8c560482523821a221deec09bb2bcb%5E..58af40341824bce58f9d6533e368440c82ce6dc3

[vient]

deadsnakes version reports checking for stdlib extension module _tkinter... missing too though

[vient]

Oh, ok, they have changes in deb scripts, and I am trying to build with make directly.

[asottile]

no it doesn't?

$ python3.11 -c 'import _tkinter'
$

[vient]

I tried TCLTK_CFLAGS="-I/usr/include/tcl8.6" TCLTK_LIBS="-ltcl8.6" ./configure ..., it did not help, configure still reports that libs for tkinter are missing. I guess it's me who is missing something but I can't understand yet what is wrong.

[asottile]

that's not the same as my diff above shows

[vient]

Hm, I took it from your diff
in debian/rules variables are set

TCLTK_CFLAGS=-I/usr/include/tcl8.6
TCLTK_LIBS=-ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6

and then passed to configure like this TCLTK_CFLAGS="$(TCLTK_CFLAGS)" TCLTK_LIBS="$(TCLTK_LIBS)" ../configure ... - is it different from what I am doing?

[vient]

oh well i missed -ltk8.6

[vient]

Yay, it worked, thanks for pointing to deadsnakes patches.
I don't know if this issue is relevant to CPython or not, what do they say about build support on 18.04? Did not see this information. Not closing just in case.

[asottile]

I asked about this when the pkg-config change landed (linked above) -- this is intentional that they no longer support platforms missing proper pkg-config for tkinter

[vient]

So WONTFIX then, understood, thanks

[StefaE]

On Debian/buster (old, ok ...), I needed to say TCLTK_LIBS="-ltk8.6 -ltkstub8.6 -ltcl8.6" TCLTK_CFLAGS="-I/usr/include/tcl8.6" ./configure ..., which took me a while to figure out ...