[Python-Dev] Can't compile _tkinter.c with Redhat 9 (post-SF#719880)

[Martin v. Löwis]

Jeff Epler <jepler@unpythonic.net> writes:

> It would be nice if there was someone up ahead to make sure the
> light is not an oncoming train.

I first learned about the problem when a Debian bug report was
forwarded to Python, along with a patch. I can't recall whether this
was before or after the 8.4.2 release - notice that the incompatible
change was in a subminor release.

At that time I thought: well, the patch fixes the problem, so let's
just apply it and, life goes on. The Tk changelog entry reads

2003-02-28  Donal K. Fellows  <fellowsd@cs.man.ac.uk>

	* tests/bind.test (bind-16.44): 
	* generic/tkBind.c (ExpandPercents): Only allow events to see
	those expansions that are actually valid for them, and force the
	substitution of the rest as "??".  This stops some crashes on
	Windows and gets rid of bogus values everywhere.  [Bug #612110]

which made it quite clear that Tk people would not revert that change,
no matter what.

Regards,
Martin