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This is theTcl 8.6.15 source distribution.

You can get any source release of Tcl fromour distributionsite.

1. Introduction
2. Documentation
3. Compiling and installing Tcl
4. Development tools
5. Tcl newsgroup
6. The Tcler's Wiki
7. Mailing lists
8. Support and Training
9. Tracking Development
10. Thank You

Tcl provides a powerful platform for creating integration applications thattie together diverse applications, protocols, devices, and frameworks.When paired with the Tk toolkit, Tcl provides the fastest and most powerfulway to create GUI applications that run on PCs, Unix, and Mac OS X.Tcl can also be used for a variety of web-related tasks and for creatingpowerful command languages for applications.

Tcl is maintained, enhanced, and distributed freely by the Tcl community.Source code development and tracking of bug reports and feature requeststake place atcore.tcl-lang.org.Tcl/Tk release and mailing list services arehosted bySourceForgewith the Tcl Developer Xchange hosted atwww.tcl-lang.org.

Tcl is a freely available open-source package. You can do virtuallyanything you like with it, such as modifying it, redistributing it,and selling it either in whole or in part. See the filelicense.terms for complete information.

Extensive documentation is available on our website.The home page for this release, including new features, ishere.Detailed release notes can be found at thefile distributions pageby clicking on the relevant version.

Information about Tcl itself can be found at theDeveloperXchange.There have been many Tcl books on the market. Many are mentioned inthe Wiki.

The complete set of reference manual entries for Tcl 8.6 isonline,here.

Thedoc subdirectory in this release contains a complete set ofreference manual entries for Tcl. Files with extension ".1" are forprograms (for example,tclsh.1); files with extension ".3" are for Clibrary procedures; and files with extension ".n" describe Tclcommands. The file "doc/Tcl.n" gives a quick summary of the Tcllanguage syntax. To print any of the man pages on Unix, cd to the"doc" directory and invoke your favorite variant of troff using thenormal -man macros, for example

groff -man -Tpdf Tcl.n >output.pdf

to print Tcl.n to PDF. If Tcl has been installed correctly and your "man" programsupports it, you should be able to access the Tcl manual entries using thenormal "man" mechanisms, such as

man Tcl

The "doc" subdirectory in this release contains a complete set of Windowshelp files for Tcl. Once you install this Tcl release, a shortcut to theWindows help Tcl documentation will appear in the "Start" menu:

Start | Programs | Tcl | Tcl Help

There are brief notes in theunix/README,win/README, andmacosx/READMEabout compiling on these different platforms. There is additional informationabout building Tcl from sourcesonline.

ActiveState produces a high-quality set of commercial quality developmenttools that is available to accelerate your Tcl application development.Tcl Dev Kit builds on the earlier TclPro toolset and provides a debugger,static code checker, single-file wrapping utility, bytecode compiler, andmore. More information can be found at

https://www.activestate.com/products/tcl/

There is a USENET newsgroup, "comp.lang.tcl", intended for the exchange ofinformation about Tcl, Tk, and related applications. The newsgroup is agreat place to ask general information questions. For bug reports, pleasesee the "Support and bug fixes" section below.

There is awiki-based open community sitecovering all aspects of Tcl/Tk.

It is dedicated to the Tcl programming language and its extensions. Awealth of useful information can be found there. It contains codesnippets, references to papers, books, and FAQs, as well as pointers todevelopment tools, extensions, and applications. You can also recommendadditional URLs by editing the wiki yourself.

Several mailing lists are hosted at SourceForge to discuss development or useissues (like Macintosh and Windows topics). For more information and tosubscribe, visithere and go to theMailing Lists page.

We are very interested in receiving bug reports, patches, and suggestions forimprovements. We prefer that you send this information to us as ticketsentered intoour issue tracker.

We will log and follow-up on each bug, although we cannot promise aspecific turn-around time. Enhancements may take longer and may not happenat all unless there is widespread support for them (we're trying toslow the rate at which Tcl/Tk turns into a kitchen sink). It's verydifficult to make incompatible changes to Tcl/Tk at this point, due tothe size of the installed base.

The Tcl community is too large for us to provide much individual support forusers. If you need help we suggest that you post questions tocomp.lang.tclor ask a question onStackOverflow. We read thenewsgroup and will attempt to answer esoteric questions for which no one elseis likely to know the answer. In addition, see the wiki forlinks to otherorganizations that offer Tcl/Tk training.

Tcl is developed in public. You can keep an eye on how Tcl is changing atcore.tcl-lang.org.

We'd like to express our thanks to the Tcl community for all thehelpful suggestions, bug reports, and patches we have received.Tcl/Tk has improved vastly and will continue to do so with your help.