Installing Tk

Install Tk for Python (Tkinter) on macOS

The easy way

Python's binary installers, available at python.org, include a fully-functioning Tkinter.

The hard way: building from source

If you want to build Tkinter from Python source, there are four steps: install developer tools, install Tcl/Tk, build Python, and verify Tkinter.

Install developer tools

To install Apple's developer tools (compiler, etc.), open a Terminal and at the command line, run:

% xcode-select --install

Install Tcl/Tk

Here, you have two good options: using the Homebrew package manager, or compiling Tcl/Tk from source. Do not rely on the version included in macOS (8.5.9, released in 2010) which has several serious bugs easily triggered by Tkinter.

Homebrew. If you already use Homebrew, you can install Tcl/Tk using the following command:

% brew install tcl-tk

Compiling Tcl/Tk from source. Visit www.tcl.tk and download the source code for both Tcl (e.g., tcl8.6.17-src.tar.gz) and Tk (e.g., tk8.6.17-src.tar.gz). Create a directory on your system and unpack them.

Open a terminal, change into the directory where you unpacked the Tcl and Tk source, and run the following commands. Adjust the version numbers (e.g., 8.6.17) as needed. This will build Tcl and Tk and install them in bin, lib, and include directories next to the source code; change the prefix option if you want to install them elsewhere.

% export TCLTKDIR=`pwd`
% cd tcl8.6.17/unix
% ./configure --with-system-libtommath --prefix=\$TCLTKDIR
% make && make install
% cd ../../tk8.6.17/unix
% ./configure --enable-aqua=yes --without-x --with-tcl=\$TCLTKDIR/lib
% make && make install

Compile Python

Instructions on obtaining and compiling Python can be found at devguide.python.org. The only trick is telling it where to find the versions of Tcl/Tk you installed. Python's build system goes to great lengths to try to figure this out, and may even get it right. But it may also find a different (older) version on your system. To avoid any unexpected surprises, you can set two environment variables before building to tell it exactly which Tcl/Tk installation to use.

% export TCLTK_CFLAGS="-I\$TCLTKDIR/include"
% export TCLTK_LIBS="\$TCLTKDIR/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib \$TCLTKDIR/lib/libtk8.6.dylib"
% ./configure --with-pydebug && make -j8

Verify Tkinter

Test out what you've built. Start Python from your terminal, e.g.,

% ./python.exe

From the Python command prompt, enter these two commands:

>>> import tkinter
>>> tkinter._test()

This should open a window saying, e.g., "This is Tcl/Tk version 8.6.17."

Install Tk for Python (Tkinter) on Windows

The easy way

Python's binary installers, available at python.org, include a fully-functioning Tkinter.

The (not so) hard way: building from source

Actually, if you're able to build Python already on Windows, you've very likely already built Tkinter. As part of the build process, the necessary Tcl/Tk source code is automatically downloaded and compiled for you. So not so hard, is it?

Once you've compiled Python, test it to ensure that Tkinter works. Start Python, and from its command prompt, enter these two commands:

>>> import tkinter
>>> tkinter._test()

This should open a window saying, e.g., "This is Tcl/Tk version 8.6.15."

Install Tk for Python (Tkinter) on Linux/X11

The easy way

Most Linux distributions install a recent version of Python by default, or it can be installed using their package manager. Some Linux distributions separate out Tkinter support into a separate package that isn't automatically installed. If so, they'll usually notify you how to proceed when you try to import tkinter. On many versions of Ubuntu for example, you need to install a package named python3-tk.

To verify Tkinter is installed correctly, start Python, and from its command prompt, enter these two commands:

>>> import tkinter
>>> tkinter._test()

This should open a window saying, e.g., "This is Tcl/Tk version 8.6.16."

The hard way: building from source

If you want to build Tkinter from Python source, there are four steps: install developer tools, install Tcl/Tk, build Python, and verify Tkinter.

Install developer tools and libraries

If needed, use your package manager to install standard development tools needed to build Tcl and Python: gcc, make, git, etc., including the X11 headers and libraries, which are often in a package named something like libx11-dev.

Install Tcl/Tk

Again, you may wish to install Tcl/Tk using your package manager. But if not, visit www.tcl.tk and download the source code for both Tcl (e.g., tcl8.6.17-src.tar.gz) and Tk (e.g., tk8.6.17-src.tar.gz). Create a directory on your system and unpack them.

Open a terminal, change into the directory where you unpacked the Tcl and Tk source, and run the following commands. Adjust the version numbers (e.g., 8.6.17) as needed. This will build Tcl and Tk and install them in bin, lib, and include directories next to the source code; change the prefix option if you want to install them elsewhere.

% export TCLTKDIR=`pwd`
% cd tcl8.6.17/unix
% ./configure --prefix=\$TCLTKDIR
% make && make install
% cd ../../tk8.6.17/unix
% ./configure --with-tcl=\$TCLTKDIR/lib
% make && make install

Compile Python

Instructions on obtaining and compiling Python can be found at devguide.python.org. The only trick is telling it where to find the versions of Tcl/Tk you installed. Python's build system goes to some lengths to try to figure this out. But it may also find a different (older) version on your system. To avoid any unexpected surprises, you can set two environment variables before building to tell it exactly which Tcl/Tk installation to use.

% export TCLTK_CFLAGS="-I\$TCLTKDIR/include"
% export TCLTK_LIBS="\$TCLTKDIR/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib \$TCLTKDIR/lib/libtk8.6.dylib"
% ./configure --with-pydebug && make -j8

Verify Tkinter

When everything is built, be sure to test it out. Start your newly-built Python from your terminal, and from the Python command prompt, enter these two commands:

>>> import tkinter
>>> tkinter._test()

This should open a window saying, e.g., "This is Tcl/Tk version 8.6.17."

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
root = Tk()
ttk.Button(root, text="Hello World").grid()
root.mainloop()

Save this to a file named "hello.py". From a command prompt, type:

% python hello.py