BillKSmith has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have a perl_Tk script which has recently started aborting with the following message. 

Can't locate loadable object for module Tk::Canvas in @INC (@INC conta
+ins: C:\Us
ers\Bill\Perl\lib C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib/MSWin32-x64-multi-thread
+ C:/Strawb
erry/perl/site/lib C:/Strawberry/perl/vendor/lib C:/Strawberry/perl/li
+b) at C:\U
sers\Bill\projects\fractal\mandelbrotTk.pl line 25.
Compilation failed in require at C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib/Tk/Widget
+.pm line 
268.

[download]

I am using Tk version 804.036001, Strawberry perl 5.38 under windows 7.

Strawberry perl 5.38 is the only perl on my computer. Several months ago I uninstalled a previous version of perl and installed 5.38, then installed Tk with the command cpan Tk. My existing script worked immediately and continued to until some time last week. I am certain that the script has not changed. I am not aware of any changes to perl, Tk, or any of its components, in fact, I have verified that the modules Tk.pm, Tk/widget.pm, and Tk/canvas.pm are all up to date and stored in C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib. Another Tk script (which does not use canvas) still works.

Does "loadable object" refer to anything other than Tk/canvas.pm? I would appreciate any suggestion on finding and fixing the problem. Of course, I will post any additional material which may be helpful.

Bill

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Tk::Canvas not working
by syphilis (Archbishop) on Dec 05, 2024 at 00:08 UTC
    Does "loadable object" refer to anything other than Tk/canvas.pm?

    Yes - in this case it's referring to "auto/Tk/Canvas/Canvas.xs.dll" (or perhaps "auto/Tk/Canvas/Canvas.dll") - and that file needs to be in one of the @INC directories.
    You'd expect it to be in "C:/Strawberry/perl/site/lib", but it could also be in one of the other @INC directories.

    The first thing to do is to try reinstalling the Tk::Canvas module.
    If that is done, then things should start working again.

    Cheers,
    Rob
[reply]
      I tried to follow your advice by first uninstalling the existing Tk::Canvas with the command cpanm --uninstall Tk::Canvas, and then reinstalling it with the command cpan Tk::Canvas. Uninstall was successful. The installation failed with messages ending as follows. 

      In file included from ../pTk/mTk/xlib/X11/Xlib.h:31,
                 from tkWinPort.h:19,
                 from tkPort.h:32,
                 from tk.h:87,
                 from imgBMP.c:11:
../pTk/mTk/xlib/X11/X.h:182:34: error: expected identifier or '(' befo
+re numeric
 constant
  182 | #define ControlMask             (1<<2)
      |                                  ^
gmake[1]: *** [makefile:891: imgBMP.o] Error 1
gmake[1]: Leaving directory 'C:/STRAWB~1/cpan/build/Tk-804.036-2/pTk'
gmake: *** [makefile:1638: pTk/libpTk.a] Error 2
  SREZIC/Tk-804.036.tar.gz
  C:\STRAWB~1\c\bin\gmake.exe -- NOT OK
Stopping: 'install' failed for 'Tk::Canvas'

      [download]

      This does look familiar. I think that I did have this problem with my original installation of Tk, but do not remember the solution.

      UPDATE: Found my old notes. Refer Tk install fails. I had installed Tk with the command cpanm https://github.com/StrawberryPerl/Perl-Dist-Strawberry/releases/download/patched_cpan_modules/Tk-804.036_001.tar.gz. Perhaps I should uninstall all of Tk and repeat that command.

      Bill
[reply]
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        Perhaps I should uninstall all of Tk and repeat that command

        Yes- that's the next thing to try. (Even if the uninstall fails, just forcing a reinstallation of that Tk distro should suffice.)
        It seems odd to me that "cpanm --install Tk::Canvas" tried to install Tk first. It suggests that your existing Tk installation is also unusable.

        Cheers,
        Rob
[reply]
[d/l]

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