Author:		Jan Nijtmans <[email protected]>
State:		Final
Type:		Project
Vote:		Done
Created:	17-11-2023
Tcl-Version:	9.0
Tk-Branch:	tk-legacy
Vote-Summary:	6 / 0 / 0
Votes-For:	AK, DKP, FV, JN, KW, SL
Votes-Against:	none
Votes-Present:	none

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Abstract

Tk's "pack" and "scrollbar" commands have a legacy syntax, which is not supported any more, but it still works in Tk up to 8.7. The code related to this was never removed. Tk 9.0 is the right time to - finally - get rid of this outdated code and documentation.

Also, the "-file" argument of "wish" is removed.

Rationale

In versions of Tk before 4.0, the scrollbar get and set widget commands had a different form. This old form is not noticeable any more:

% .s set
wrong # args: should be ".s set firstFraction lastFraction"

but if you provide 4 parameters in stead of 2 it still works.

The pack command has 4 old sub-commands (from before Tk 3.3), which are not in use any more. Those are after, append, before, and unpack. They are documented in the pack-old.n manpage, but nowhere else.

Tk doesn't use this old syntax anywhere any more. Applications shouldn't use it any more; Any application using it was developed before Tk 4.0!

The "-file" argument of "wish" has been deprecated since 1994 (Tk 4.0).

Implementation

Implementation is in Tk branch "tk-legacy".

Copyright

This document has been placed in the public domain.