What is this document?

This is an typical FAQ list containing the questions a newcomer to TEApot will likely be asking. This file is not a complete reference to TEApot, however; that information is in the man pages of the various tools.

What does the setup look like after ActiveTcl has been installed ?

Standard installation repository

The standard installation repository is connected to the tclsh installed by ActiveTcl and can be found at

Unix

"~/.teapot/repository"

Windows

"$USERPROFILE/Teapot/repository".

OS X

"~/Library/Application Support/ActiveState/Teapot/repository"

(Note the space between "Application" and "Support").

Tclsh initialization

The file "[info library]/init.tcl" of the installed tclsh contains code for the integration of installation repositories with the installed tclsh. The list of repositories used by this code is managed via teacup. The standard installation repository is already put on this list.

This causes the installed tclsh to load packages from the repository.

Teacup configuration

The standard installation repository is defined as the default installation repository of teacup. To query use teacup default. This will show one of the above locations per the system we are on, the architecture of the installed shell, and its location. The last piece of information shows that the repository is connected to the shell.

The standard archive is defined as ActiveState's public repository at http://teapot.activestate.com. To query use teacup archive list.

Moving the standard repository elsewhere

Use case: Making the regular per-user TEApot repository, as created by the ActiveTcl installer, a central repository shared by all users.

1. % teacup link cut /the/teapot/standard/path /your/activetcl/bin/tclsh

   % mv /the/teapot/standard/path /your/repository/path

   % teacup link make /your/repository/path /your/activetcl/bin/tclsh

   This sequence of commands first severs the connection between repository and tclsh, then moves the repository, and at last re-creates the connection.

2. % teacup default /your/repository/path

   This changes the declared default for teacup to your location

Create a new installation directory and make it the standard

Use case: Connect a Tcl installation, not necessarily made by ActiveTcl, but also created by compiling from the sources, to a new repository, which can be per-user, or central to a set of users.

NOTE: The Tcl installation has to be compiled with support for extended versions as per TIP 268.

1. % teacup create /your/repository/path

   % teacup link make /your/repository/path /your/tclsh

   This creates the repository at "/your/repository/path" and connects it to "/your/tclsh". The last redirects your tclsh to the repository at your location. If your tclsh does not have the TEApot linkage code the link make will fail and direct the user to run

   % teacup setup /your/tclsh

   to install the necessary support code.

2. % teacup default /your/repository/path

   This changes the declared default for teacup to your location.

Create a new installation directory and add it to the list of repositories used by a tclsh

Use case: Extend a Tcl installation, not necessarily made by ActiveTcl, but also created by compiling from the sources, with additional installation repositories. The Tcl installation may already use some installation repositories, this however is not required.

NOTE: The Tcl installation has to be compiled with support for extended versions as per TIP 268.

1. % teacup create /your/repository/path

   % teacup link make /your/repository/path /your/tclsh

   This creates the repository at "/your/repository/path" and connects it to "/your/tclsh". The last redirects your tclsh to the repository at your location. If your tclsh does not have the TEApot linkage code the link make will fail and direct the user to run

   % teacup setup /your/tclsh

   to install the necessary support code.

Remember and note however that even if the Tcl installation is connected to more than one installation repository only one of these repositories can be the default installation repository of the teacup application.

Disconnect a shell from a repository

1. % teacup link cut /your/repository/path /your/tclsh

Extend the set of archives to query

1. % teacup archive add LOCATION

   This tells teacup that LOCATION is a repository which it can search when the user requests the retrieval or installation packages. LOCATION can be a path in the file system, or an http url.

   For example ActiveState's public repository can be found at http://teapot.activestate.com.