"SetFrontProcess failed,-606" error for Tkinter under OS X

[brettcannon]

BPO	789926
Nosy	@brettcannon, @jackjansen

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/jackjansen'
closed_at = <Date 2003-08-19.10:08:42.000>
created_at = <Date 2003-08-16.22:53:27.000>
labels = ['OS-mac', 'invalid']
title = '"SetFrontProcess failed,-606" error for Tkinter under OS X'
updated_at = <Date 2003-08-19.10:08:42.000>
user = 'https://github.com/brettcannon'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2003-08-19.10:08:42.000>
actor = 'jackjansen'
assignee = 'jackjansen'
closed = True
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['macOS']
creation = <Date 2003-08-16.22:53:27.000>
creator = 'brett.cannon'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 789926
keywords = []
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['17815', '17816', '17817', '17818']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['brett.cannon', 'jackjansen']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue789926'
versions = []

[brettcannon]

Launching IDLE with the newest Aqua Tcl/Tk (8.4.4 with
batteries included) leads to the error message
"SetFrontProcess failed,-606" in the terminal window when I
try to click on the IDLE window.

Is this a Tcl/Tk issue or a Tkinter problem? I have tried to
wipe as much of Tcl/Tk from my system and re-install and it
still comes up (I could be having residual issues from my
previous 8.3.3 which also had the same error).

[jackjansen]

Logged In: YES
user_id=45365

Brett,
I need a few more details. Did you use the existing IDLE from 2.3
installed via PackMan, or a privately-built one? Or did you run
from the command line? If so, you did remember to use
"pythonw", not "python"?

If you can repeat this problem using pythonw from the command
line I would like a transcript, please.

[brettcannon]

Logged In: YES
user_id=357491

This is a Darwin build built from CVS source (--with-pydebug --
prefix=$HOME/cvs_code --enable-ipv6 --enable-unicode=ucs4).
There is no pythonw to run (I thought that was a Windows-only
thing?) and I have never used (nor know how to use) PackMan.

I executed from the command-line by passing the script "idle" in
my bin directory to my installed copy of CVS Python.

If this turns out to be because of the Unicode switch again I am
going to go nuts. =)

[jackjansen]

Logged In: YES
user_id=45365

Brett,
this is a known issue. On MacOSX you can only run GUI programs
if they are embedded in a ".app" bundle. If you do a framework
build of Python (see instructions in Mac/OSX/README) then in
addition to the "python" executable you will also get "pythonw"
which runs your script in such a .app bundle.

With a normal unix build this is conceivably doable, but you are on
your own.

An alternative (but I wouldn't recommend it) is to use X11-Tk: as
this isn't an Aqua program it doesn't suffer from the .app problem.