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Ticket UUID:	9ba9729ef1b5ef6ead755f2d72656743bbb26832
Title:	Limitation of [send] and [winfo interps] on macOS is not reflected documentation, and tests exhibit shortcomings
Type:	Bug	Version:	9.1a0
Submitter:	erikleunissen	Created on:	2025-08-16 05:39:24
Subsystem:	99. Other	Assigned To:	nobody
Priority:	5 Medium	Severity:	Important
Status:	Open	Last Modified:	2025-08-16 10:45:40
Resolution:	None	Closed By:	nobody
		Closed on:
Description:	On macOS, communicating with other interpreters using the send command is limited to interpreters within the same process. This limitation is not mentioned in the manual page for "send". Also, some tests in the test file "send.test" involve interpreters in other processes. Some of these tests are skipped for aqua, but not all, notably send-8.18 and send-8.19. A probably related limitation holds for [winfo interps]. Under macOS, this command does not list interpreters in another process. As is the case with [send], this limitation is not mentioned in the docs. Furthermore, the test file "winfo.test" doesn't contain any tests that exercise multiple interpreters, whether in the same process or not, taking into account the different behaviour on macOS compared to that on other unix derivatives. See also the post to the TCLCORE mailing list on 15-aug-2025 with subject "Advice requested regarding [send] on macOS".
User Comments:	erikleunissen added on 2025-08-16 10:45:40: The changes that I intended with this ticket are done. I'm welcoming review of the development branch bug-9ba9729ef1. erikleunissen added on 2025-08-16 10:13:20: Tests in winfo.test with multiple interpreters (in the same process and in different processes) have been added. See commit [c8bf1bce91]. erikleunissen added on 2025-08-16 10:10:41: Tests in send.test targetting interpreters in another process have now been constrained with "notAqua". See commits [1f3dbb47af] and [95d7944f15]. erikleunissen added on 2025-08-16 08:00:39: New text proposals for man winfo (winfo interps) and man send ------------------------------------------------------------- Man winfo, current text "winfo interps" -- Returns a list whose members are the names of all Tcl interpreters (e.g. all Tk-based applications) currently registered for a particular display. If the -displayof option is given then the return value refers to the display of window; otherwise it refers to the display of the application's main window. -- Proposed new text -- Returns a list whose members are the names of all Tcl interpreters (e.g. all Tk-based applications) currently registered for a particular display. If the -displayof option is given then the return value refers to the display of window; otherwise it refers to the display of the application's main window. Under macOS/aqua, the command returns only the interpreters that exist in the same process as the current interpreter. -- Man send, proposal to add a section "LIMITATIONS" ------------------------------------------------- Proposed text for section LIMITATIONS: -- Under macOS/aqua, the send command works only with interpreters that exist in the same process (these are returned by "winfo interps"). Invocations that target an interpreter that exists in another process return an empty string without accomplishing anything; no error is returned. -- The proposed changes have been committed in bug-fix branch bug-9ba9729ef1, commit [731a5957cc].