Re: Tcl 9 Build failure using Visual Studio 2022

On 10/31/2024 3:51 PM, William Bresler wrote:

Michael Soyka wrote:

On 10/14/2024 2:59 PM, Harald Oehlmann wrote:

Am 14.10.2024 um 17:03 schrieb Michael Soyka:

On 10/13/2024 7:14 AM, Harald Oehlmann wrote:

Am 11.10.2024 um 03:19 schrieb Michael Soyka:

On 10/10/2024 1:07 PM, Michael Soyka wrote:

I've downloaded the tcl900-src.zip file from SourceForge and am trying to build it using the "buildall.vc.bat" script with Visual Studio 2022. Other than defining INSTALLDIR, I've changed nothing. The executables and packages appear to build without error but not the help files which fail like so:
>
: make-manpage-section: not table of contents.
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'win\Debug_VC1941\tclsh90.exe win\.. \tools\tcltk-man2html.tcl "--htmldir=win\Debug_VC1941\html"' : return code '0x1'
Stop.
*** BOOM! ***
DONE!
>
Note that I've shortened the paths in the above error message for clarity.
>
Can anyone help?
>
-mike

>
To answer my own question, the work-around, at the moment, is to not build the docs.  This means not using the shell script but invoking nmake directly:
>
   nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc release
   nmake -nologo -f makefile.vc install
>
This allows me to test my apps using 9.0.  The docs issue can be addressed later.
>

>
Your observation is correct.
On the other side, if the help workshop is available, it works. I always test this. The result is semi-optimal anyway...
>
Thanks,
Harald

Thanks for your reply.  I've had past experience with the help workshop but when I upgraded to Windows 10, it never occurred to me to download it again- who knew?
>
Anyway, since the Tcl/Tk sources come with man-pages in nroff format and the unix makefile creates HTML pages, it occurred to me to port those makefile targets to makefile.vc.  Thus far, I've made the HTML help files for both Tcl and Tk but each has its own index.html file and the build process does not merge them.  That's the next mystery.
>
-mike

>
The help files are only merged, if:
- tcl and tk source is in a common sub-folder and there is no other tcl/ tk subfolder in the same directory.
- cd tcl9.0.0\win
- nmake -f Makefile.vc
- nmake -f Makefile.vc htmlhelp
Will build both html help sets and the unified index file. Then, the call to the help workshop fails, but the files are in win\Release_VCxxxx\html
>
I tried to put info on the help system here:
>
https://core.tcl-lang.org/tcl/wiki?name=How+to+edit/test+tcl+man+pages&p
>
Any help appreciated,
Harald
>

Harald,
>
I made the htmlhelp target as you've suggested and it does make the HTML files and merges the index.html files as desired.  I don't remember exactly what I did when I first posted this but I certainly didn't realize it was making HTML files before the .chm and so never looked for them.
>
Thanks for your help and patience.  The makefile is a bit tough to understand but the rules.vc file helped alot.
>
-mike

 Although Microsoft essentially discontinued the HTML Help Workshop, and
the links to download it are now broken, the Internet Archive's Wayback
machine often comes to the rescue.  I ran into this same issue in June
2023 while trying to build Tcl/Tk on a Windows 11 system so I poked
around various old postings about HHW until I found a reference that I
could plug into the Wayback Machine.
 I just checked and the files are still there.  Here are the links:
 htmlhelp.exe:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160201063255if_/https:// download.microsoft.com/download/0/A/9/0A939EF6-E31C-430F-A3DF- DFAE7960D564/htmlhelp.exe
 helpdocs.zip:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160314043751if_/http:// download.microsoft.com/download/0/A/9/0A939EF6-E31C-430F-A3DF- DFAE7960D564/helpdocs.zip
 (Sorry for the extra long lines.)
 The first is the installer.  IIRC you should run this as Administrator, or
from an elevated command prompt session.  The second contains .CHM files for
the HHW itself.  I have no problems building the docs for Tcl/Tk 8.6.15 and I
am planning on trying out a build of Tcl/Tk 9.0 in the next few days.
 I hope this will prove useful for anyone who finds the .CHM files valuable.
Best of luck.
     --- William Bresler
 

Thank you for the Wayback machine reference and links.  I've heard of this site before but keep forgetting about it.
By coincidence, a few days ago I looked at some old system backups, my own personal Wayback machine, and found the same files you've listed above.  I installed the htmlhelp app and tried to build the help files for version 9 and encountered two problems.
First, the makefile.vc references a file named contents.htm which the help compiler couldn't find (error HHC5003).  Nonetheless, it created the .chm file but when I launched it, a message popped-up about a missing Internet Explorer DLL file:  //ieframe.dll/dnserrordiagoff.htm#
The build process does create an index.htm file but if I blindly replace contents.htm with index.htm in the makefile, the same errors occur (HHC5003- can't compile index.htm).
Truth be told, I'm good with the HTML pages but the above errors irk me and so this is still a work in progress (in my spare time).