This is a brief description of how to get the Tk module working with
Perl and Cygwin.

CONFIGURE/BUILD

    Use native Win32 GUI calls:

        perl Makefile.PL

    Use X11 client libraries (and requires a X server):

        Precompiled X11 client libraries can be downloaded from
        ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/cygwin/xfree/xc-4-binaries/
            xfree86-4.0-DLLs.tar.bz2
            xfree86-4.0-devel.tar.bz2

        NOTE: Your DISPLAY must be 127.0.0.1:0.0
              Your PATH must include the DLL directory, /usr/X11R6/bin

        perl Makefile.PL x

    make

TEST

    make test
    perl -Mblib demos/widget

INSTALL

    make install

SIDE-BY-SIDE PORT COMPARISONS (demos/widget)

    X11 (Hummingbird/Exceed X Server, V6.1)

        + Motif look and feel
        + Scroll wheel does not work with X11 (config?)
        + Global grabs only affect X11 windows (config?)
        + Menus, normal style
          - Alt+x does not post menus (config?)
        + $Tk::platform => unix

    Win32

        + Windows look and feel
        + Uses Win32 clipboard
        + Help on menu bar not all the way to the right
        + Tear-off menus placed at upper-left instead of near pointer
        + Tile and Transparent, no tiled camels, third window not
          transparent
        + Menus, normal style
          - File - "Error: unknown option "-label" at Tk.pm line 217
        + Menus, Perl/Tk style
          - Menus do not drop as traverse with button press
          - Alt+x does not post menus
        + Native Win32 FileSelect dialog, FileSelect/FBox the same
        + Native Win32 ChooseColor dialog
        + Balls bouncing, when start restacked below widget demo window
          (if bounce window not moved)
        + Global grabs only affect current application
        + IntelliMouse with IntelliEye (but ok with a trackball, setting?)
          - Button-2 dragging/scanning does not work well
          - Button-2 for copy/paste does not work well
            (seems to flip into a scroll mode)
        + $Tk::TkwinVtab, $Tk::TkwinintVtab variables
        + $Tk::platform => MSWin32

    Both
        + Tear-off menus restack parent below widget demo window
        + Meta-backspace, Meta-d not working (Meta config?)
        + Menus, normal and Perl/Tk style
          - Meta+x accelerators (Control+x okay) not working (config?)

    X11 (Cygwin)   v X11 (Solaris)

        No differences that I could find!

    Win32 (Cygwin) v Win32 (MSWin32/ActiveState)

        + Menus, normal style
          - Accelerators Win32 bound to Control, Cygwin bound to Meta
            (see demos/demos/widget_lib/menus.pl, $^O eq 'MSWin32')
          - Win32 ^A does not work (Meta+A with X11), ^H does

PORTING NOTES

    + $Tk::platform is really the win_arch, where unix is x
      (sometimes $^O eq 'MSWin32' is used instead of $Tk::platform
       eq 'MSWin32' assuming they are equivalent and vice versa)
    + #define distinctions
        _WIN32                defined by gcc, if X11 need to undef
        __WIN32__             win_arch MSWin32, also defined in pTk/Lang.h
        WIN32                 from #include <windows.h>
                              when precedes #include "perl.h" then need
                              a #undef WIN32 (otherwise tries to include
                              Win32 Perl things like win32.h, defined
                              by native Win32 port)
    + With native Win32 GUI use Cygwin select() with /dev/windows
      pseudo-device rather than using Win32 GetMessage() directly
    + pTk/mTk/win/tkWinX.c, pTk/mTk/generic/tkPort.h part of core Tk,
      which is ordinarily not touched by Tk Perl module? pTk/Tcl-pTk?

FILES (with Cygwin references)

    README.cygwin MANIFEST
    * documentation

    Makefile.PL Tk/MMutil.pm pTk/Makefile.PL
    * make stuff

    pTk/mTk/win/tkWinX.c
    * GetMessage() via select() on /dev/windows and callback

    Scrollbar/Scrollbar.xs tkWin32Dll.c
    * defined(__WIN32__) && defined(__CYGWIN__)

    tkGlue.c
    * refdef XS because __declspec(dllexport) incompatible with static
    * defined(__WIN32__) && defined(__CYGWIN__) and pTk/tkWin.h
      includes <windows.h> which defines WIN32

    Tk.pm
    * set $Tk::platform with help from $Tk::Config::win_arch

    DragDrop/site_test Tk/X11Font.pm t/create.t t/mwm.t
    * $^O eq 'cygwin' and $Tk::platform eq 'MSWin32'

    DragDrop/Win32Site/Win32Site.xs
    * #undef WIN32 from <windows.h>

    pTk/mTk/generic/tkPort.h
    * resolve strcasecmp/stricmp #define mess

    pTk/Lang.h
    * some defs ordinarily from tkUnixPort.h

    chnGlue.c
    * Cygwin has O_BINARY

    IO/IO.xs
    * Cygwin has O_NONBLOCK

TODO

    + Any way to have X11 and native Win32 versions available
      at the same time?  Build with Xlib/Win32 emulator (see rxvt)?
    + Fix gcc warnings, mostly in pTk win32 flavor?
    + Test with cygwin-xfree X Server?

Thu Aug 31 12:54:09 BST 2000
Eric Fifer
efifer@dircon.co.uk