package(3tcl)
NAME
package - Facilities for package loading and version control
SYNOPSIS
package forget ?package package ...? package ifneeded package version ?script? package names package present package ?requirement...? package present -exact package version package provide package ?version? package require package ?requirement...? package require -exact package version package unknown ?command? package vcompare version1 version2 package versions package package vsatisfies version requirement... package prefer ?latest|stable? ______________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
This command keeps a simple database of the packages available for use
by the current interpreter and how to load them into the interpreter.
It supports multiple versions of each package and arranges for the
correct version of a package to be loaded based on what is needed by
the application. This command also detects and reports version
clashes. Typically, only the package require and package provide
commands are invoked in normal Tcl scripts; the other commands are
used primarily by system scripts that maintain the package database.
The behavior of the package command is determined by its first
argument. The following forms are permitted:
package forget ?package package ...?
Removes all information about each specified package from this
interpreter, including information provided by both package
ifneeded and package provide.
package ifneeded package version ?script?
This command typically appears only in system configuration
scripts to set up the package database. It indicates that a
particular version of a particular package is available if
needed, and that the package can be added to the interpreter by
executing script. The script is saved in a database for use by
subsequent package require commands; typically, script sets up
auto-loading for the commands in the package (or calls load
and/or source directly), then invokes package provide to
indicate that the package is present. There may be information
in the database for several different versions of a single
package. If the database already contains information for
package and version, the new script replaces the existing one.
If the script argument is omitted, the current script for
version version of package package is returned, or an empty
string if no package ifneeded command has been invoked for this
package and version.
package names
Returns a list of the names of all packages in the interpreter
for which a version has been provided (via package provide) or
for which a package ifneeded script is available. The order of
elements in the list is arbitrary.
package present ?-exact? package ?requirement...?
This command is equivalent to package require except that it
does not try and load the package if it is not already loaded.
package provide package ?version?
This command is invoked to indicate that version version of
package package is now present in the interpreter. It is
typically invoked once as part of an ifneeded script, and again
by the package itself when it is finally loaded. An error
occurs if a different version of package has been provided by a
previous package provide command. If the version argument is
omitted, then the command returns the version number that is
currently provided, or an empty string if no package provide
command has been invoked for package in this interpreter.
package require package ?requirement...?
This command is typically invoked by Tcl code that wishes to use
a particular version of a particular package. The arguments
indicate which package is wanted, and the command ensures that a
suitable version of the package is loaded into the interpreter.
If the command succeeds, it returns the version number that is
loaded; otherwise it generates an error.
A suitable version of the package is any version which satisfies
at least one of the requirements, per the rules of package
vsatisfies. If multiple versions are suitable the implementation
with the highest version is chosen. This last part is
additionally influenced by the selection mode set with package
prefer.
In the "stable" selection mode the command will select the
highest stable version satisfying the requirements, if any. If
no stable version satisfies the requirements, the highest
unstable version satisfying the requirements will be selected.
In the "latest" selection mode the command will accept the
highest version satisfying all the requirements, regardless of
its stableness.
If a version of package has already been provided (by invoking
the package provide command), then its version number must
satisfy the requirements and the command returns immediately.
Otherwise, the command searches the database of information
provided by previous package ifneeded commands to see if an
acceptable version of the package is available. If so, the
script for the highest acceptable version number is evaluated in
the global namespace; it must do whatever is necessary to load
the package, including calling package provide for the package.
If the package ifneeded database does not contain an acceptable
version of the package and a package unknown command has been
specified for the interpreter then that command is evaluated in
the global namespace; when it completes, Tcl checks again to
see if the package is now provided or if there is a package
ifneeded script for it. If all of these steps fail to provide
an acceptable version of the package, then the command returns
an error.
package require -exact package version
This form of the command is used when only the given version of
package is acceptable to the caller. This command is equivalent
to package require package version-version.
package unknown ?command?
This command supplies a "last resort" command to invoke during
package require if no suitable version of a package can be found
in the package ifneeded database. If the command argument is
supplied, it contains the first part of a command; when the
command is invoked during a package require command, Tcl appends
one or more additional arguments giving the desired package name
and requirements. For example, if command is foo bar and later
the command package require test 2.4 is invoked, then Tcl will
execute the command foo bar test 2.4 to load the package. If no
requirements are supplied to the package require command, then
only the name will be added to invoked command. If the package
unknown command is invoked without a command argument, then the
current package unknown script is returned, or an empty string
if there is none. If command is specified as an empty string,
then the current package unknown script is removed, if there is
one.
package vcompare version1 version2
Compares the two version numbers given by version1 and version2.
Returns -1 if version1 is an earlier version than version2, 0 if
they are equal, and 1 if version1 is later than version2.
package versions package
Returns a list of all the version numbers of package for which
information has been provided by package ifneeded commands.
package vsatisfies version requirement...
Returns 1 if the version satisfies at least one of the given
requirements, and 0 otherwise. Each requirement is allowed to
have any of the forms:
min This form is called "min-bounded".
min- This form is called "min-unbound".
min-max
This form is called "bounded".
where "min" and "max" are valid version numbers. The legacy
syntax is a special case of the extended syntax, keeping
backward compatibility. Regarding satisfaction the rules are:
[1] The version has to pass at least one of the listed
requirements to be satisfactory.
[2] A version satisfies a "bounded" requirement when
[a] For min equal to the max if, and only if the
version is equal to the min.
[b] Otherwise if, and only if the version is greater
than or equal to the min, and less than the max,
where both min and max have been padded internally
with "a0". Note that while the comparison to min
is inclusive, the comparison to max is exclusive.
[3] A "min-bounded" requirement is a "bounded" requirement in
disguise, with the max part implicitly specified as the
next higher major version number of the min part. A
version satisfies it per the rules above.
[4] A version satisfies a "min-unbound" requirement if, and
only if it is greater than or equal to the min, where the
min has been padded internally with "a0". There is no
constraint to a maximum.
package prefer ?latest|stable?
With no arguments, the commands returns either "latest" or
"stable", whichever describes the current mode of selection
logic used by package require.
When passed the argument "latest", it sets the selection logic
mode to "latest".
When passed the argument "stable", if the mode is already
"stable", that value is kept. If the mode is already "latest",
then the attempt to set it back to "stable" is ineffective and
the mode value remains "latest".
When passed any other value as an argument, raise an invalid
argument error.
When an interpreter is created, its initial selection mode value
is set to "stable" unless the environment variable
TCL_PKG_PREFER_LATEST is set. If that environment variable is
defined (with any value) then the initial (and permanent)
selection mode value is set to "latest".
VERSION NUMBERS
Version numbers consist of one or more decimal numbers separated by dots, such as 2 or 1.162 or 3.1.13.1. The first number is called the major version number. Larger numbers correspond to later versions of a package, with leftmost numbers having greater significance. For example, version 2.1 is later than 1.3 and version 3.4.6 is later than 3.3.5. Missing fields are equivalent to zeroes: version 1.3 is the same as version 1.3.0 and 1.3.0.0, so it is earlier than 1.3.1 or 1.3.0.2. In addition, the letters "a" (alpha) and/or "b" (beta) may appear exactly once to replace a dot for separation. These letters semantically add a negative specifier into the version, where "a" is -2, and "b" is -1. Each may be specified only once, and "a" or "b" are mutually exclusive in a specifier. Thus 1.3a1 becomes (semantically) 1.3.-2.1, 1.3b1 is 1.3.-1.1. Negative numbers are not directly allowed in version specifiers. A version number not containing the letters "a" or "b" as specified above is called a stable version, whereas presence of the letters causes the version to be called is unstable. A later version number is assumed to be upwards compatible with an earlier version number as long as both versions have the same major version number. For example, Tcl scripts written for version 2.3 of a package should work unchanged under versions 2.3.2, 2.4, and 2.5.1. Changes in the major version number signify incompatible changes: if code is written to use version 2.1 of a package, it is not guaranteed to work unmodified with either version 1.7.3 or version 3.1.
PACKAGE INDICES
The recommended way to use packages in Tcl is to invoke package require and package provide commands in scripts, and use the procedure pkg_mkIndex to create package index files. Once you have done this, packages will be loaded automatically in response to package require commands. See the documentation for pkg_mkIndex for details.
EXAMPLES
To state that a Tcl script requires the Tk and http packages, put this
at the top of the script:
package require Tk
package require http
To test to see if the Snack package is available and load if it is
(often useful for optional enhancements to programs where the loss of
the functionality is not critical) do this:
if {[catch {package require Snack}]} {
# Error thrown - package not found.
# Set up a dummy interface to work around the absence
} else {
# We have the package, configure the app to use it
}
SEE ALSO
msgcat(3tcl), packagens(3tcl), pkgMkIndex(3tcl)
KEYWORDS
package, version
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