IDLE doesn't start

[Kev Dwyer]

Ceonn Bobst wrote:

<snip>
> 
> When I open a command prompt, and type:
> c:\python32\python.exe -m idlelib.idle
> 
> The message that comes is as follows:
> 
> Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
> (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
> C:\Documents and Settings\Ceonn>c:\python32\python.exe -m 
idlelib.idle
> Traceback (most recent call last):
> File "c:\python32\lib\runpy.py", line 160, in _run_module_as_main
> "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
> File "c:\python32\lib\runpy.py", line 73, in _run_code
> exec(code, run_globals)
> File "c:\python32\lib\idlelib\idle.py", line 11, in <module>
> idlelib.PyShell.main()
> File "c:\python32\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 1374, in main
> root = Tk(className="Idle")
> File "c:\python32\lib\tkinter\__init__.py", line 1674, in __init__
> self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, 
interactive,
> want objects, useTk, sync, use)
> _tkinter.TclError: Can't find a usable init.tcl in the following
> directories: {C:\IBMTOOLS\Python22\tcl\tcl8.4}
> C:/IBMTOOLS/Python22/tcl/tcl8.5 c:/python3 2/lib/tcl8.5 
c:/lib/tcl8.5
> c:/lib/tcl8.5 c:/library c:/library c:/tcl8.5.9/libra ry
> c:/tcl8.5.9/library C:/IBMTOOLS/Python22/tcl/tcl8.4/init.tcl: 
version
> conflict for package "Tcl": ha ve 8.5.9, need exactly 8.4
> version conflict for package "Tcl": have 8.5.9, need exactly 8.4
> while executing
> "package require -exact Tcl 8.4"
> (file "C:/IBMTOOLS/Python22/tcl/tcl8.4/init.tcl" line 19)
> invoked from within
> "source C:/IBMTOOLS/Python22/tcl/tcl8.4/init.tcl"
> ("uplevel" body line 1)
> invoked from within
> "uplevel #0 [list source $tclfile]"
> 
> Someone told me: “You certainly have a TCL_LIBRARY environment 
variable
> set on your system, it should be removed”.
> 
> How do I remove TCL_LIBRARY, or do I change some numbers somewhere, 
and
> isn’t it risky to tinker with the Python settings already on my 
computer?
> 
> Thanks for any help, I really would like to get going with Python!

Hello,

You have an older version of Python on your machine in C:/IBMTOOLS.  
It's likely that the TCL_LIBRARY is pointing to the version of TCL 
installed there, and this is causing problems for your more modern 
Python install.

You change change Windows environment variables using the instructions 
here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310519.  Changing the 
environment variable is the documented solution for this - see 
http://bugs.python.org/issue5528.

If you keep a note of the environment variable you can always 
reinstate it later.

You can find some comments about the purpose of the IBMTOOLS folder at 
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=216.

All the best,

Kev