.kit file -- how to manipulate it?

[Dave]

I was looking for a Tcl splash screen. I found an interesting one here:

http://wiki.tcl.tk/4858

It downloaded to a splash.kit

I found tclkit exe's: http://tclkits.rkeene.org/fossil/wiki/Downloads
They execute and give me a tclsh prompt... but there's no help or
documentation.

I googled for 'tclkit documentation'
The number one hit is: http://equi4.com/tclkit/docs.html
It says "For the main documentation of Tclkit, look elsewhere" and gives
links to Tcl, incrTcl, metakit and TclVFS.

So the number one hit for tclkit documentation tells me to look
somewhere else but supplies no link to real documentation for it.

So I googled some more and found: https://code.google.com/p/tclkit/

There are some downloads, including a "sdx.kit" that I supposedly
need... but no sdx command. If I knew how to use a sdx.kit, I'd know how
to use splash.kit

All this stuff appears to be really, really old--some over a decade.

All I want to do is to extract (or at least look at) the source for the
splash screen inside this splash.kit. Where, oh where, is some sort of
documentation that explains how to actually use or manipulate a ".kit"?

--
computerjock AT mail DOT com

[Peter Dean]

Brent Welch's "Practical Programming in TCL and TK" is a musthave. It
has a chapter on starkits.
You can get the .pdf here http://www.beedub.com/book/

[Robert Heller]

At Sun, 19 Jul 2015 19:26:47 -0500 Dave <nor...@nohost.com> wrote:

>
> I was looking for a Tcl splash screen. I found an interesting one here:
>
> http://wiki.tcl.tk/4858
>
> It downloaded to a splash.kit
>
> I found tclkit exe's: http://tclkits.rkeene.org/fossil/wiki/Downloads
> They execute and give me a tclsh prompt... but there's no help or
> documentation.
>
> I googled for 'tclkit documentation'
> The number one hit is: http://equi4.com/tclkit/docs.html
> It says "For the main documentation of Tclkit, look elsewhere" and gives
> links to Tcl, incrTcl, metakit and TclVFS.
>
> So the number one hit for tclkit documentation tells me to look
> somewhere else but supplies no link to real documentation for it.
>
> So I googled some more and found: https://code.google.com/p/tclkit/
>
> There are some downloads, including a "sdx.kit" that I supposedly
> need... but no sdx command. If I knew how to use a sdx.kit, I'd know how
> to use splash.kit

sdx and sdx.kit are one and the same.

You need a tclkit for your system, then put the tclkit (named 'tclkit') in
someplace on your path. Rename sdx.kit to sdx and also place it somewhere on
your path. Presto, you have the sdx command. Then:

newgollum.deepsoft.com% sdx help
Specify one of the following commands:
addtoc Adds a "TOC" to a dir-tree, containing a full MD5 file index
eval Evaluate one Tcl command from the command line
fetch Fetch file from a HTTP or FTP server
ftpd World's smallest FTP server?
httpd Simple HTTPD server by Steve Uhler and Brent Welch
httpdist Fetch/upload updates using the HTTPSYNC protocol
ls A very simple Unix-like "ls" command in pure Tcl
lsk List contents of a starkit or starpack
md5sum Calculate and print the MD5 message digest of files
mkinfo Metakit file structure display
mkpack Remove free space from Metakit file or starkit or starpack
mkshow MetaKit raw datafile dump/view utility
mksplit Split starkit/starpack into head and tail files
mkzipkit Convert a zip archive into a Tcl Module or zipkit file
qwrap Quick-wrap the specified source file into a starkit
ratarx Reverse actions of a "tar x" command
rexecd An rexec-compatible remote Tcl command server
starsync Starsync CGI server
sync Synchronize two directory trees (either can use any type of VFS)
tgz2kit Convert a tar/gz file to a starkit
treetime Adjust modtimes in dir trees to match most recent file inside
unwrap Unpack a starkit into a new directory
update Fetch or update a starkit from a Starsync server (via http)
version Establish "version" of a starkit, based on what it contains
wrap Pack a file system directory area to a starkit

For more information, type: help help ?command?

>
> All this stuff appears to be really, really old--some over a decade.
>
> All I want to do is to extract (or at least look at) the source for the
> splash screen inside this splash.kit. Where, oh where, is some sort of
> documentation that explains how to actually use or manipulate a ".kit"?
>


--

Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Linux Administration Services
hel...@deepsoft.com -- Webhosting Services

[Peter Dean]

Oh tclkit exe's, I see you're on windoze. Where the instructions use
the command "sdx"
substitute "tclkitsh sdx.kit ......."
Or you can turn sdx.kit into a starpack sdx.exe

I'd need to boot windows to make sure this works, but here goes.
#Unwrap sdx.kit
tclkitsh sdx.kit unwrap sdx.kit
# make a copy of tclkitsh to use as a runtime
copy tclkitsh.exe tclkitshrun.exe
# make starpack
tclkitsh sdx.kit wrap sdx.kit -runtime tclkitshrun.exe

Peter

[Dave]

On 7/19/2015 7:54 PM, Peter Dean wrote:
> Brent Welch's "Practical Programming in TCL and TK" is a musthave. It
> has a chapter on starkits.
> You can get the .pdf herehttp://www.beedub.com/book/

Thank you very much. I've managed to unpack the splash.kit

[Dave]

Thanks. I got my splash.kit unpacked, but I see I could have done:

tclsh sdx-20110317.kit

and gotten a help blurb.

Doing " tclsh sdx-20110317.kit unwrap splash.kit " did the job.

Why do I need a tclkit.exe?

[Robert Heller]

The ".kit" files don't contain the binary runtime code and are O/S agnostic.
The tclkit files contain the O/S specific binary runtime: tclkit.exe is the
MS-Windows specific binary runtime in this case. "*.kit" files under
UNIX/Linux are set up like scripts (ala #!tclkit) and will reference a tclkit
on one's path to get the runtime, so including something like /usr/local/bin
on one's path and putting 'tclkit' in /usr/local/bin, as well as puttin sdx in
/usr/local/bin, yields sdx as a readily accessable sdx command.