Unable to install tkinter with pyenv Pythons on MacOS

Question

Versions of Python installed via pyenv fail to import tkinter:

※ python
Python 3.8.1 (default, Feb 29 2020, 11:45:59)
[Clang 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.17)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tkinter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 36, in <module>
    import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'
>>>

or you might get a message about the header version doesn't match the binary:

DEPRECATION WARNING: The system version of Tk is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Please don't rely on it. Set TK_SILENCE_DEPRECATION=1 to suppress this warning.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 4552, in _test
    root = Tk()
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 2263, in __init__
    self._loadtk()
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 2279, in _loadtk
    raise RuntimeError("tk.h version (%s) doesn't match libtk.a version (%s)"
RuntimeError: tk.h version (8.6) doesn't match libtk.a version (8.5)

For an in-depth explanation of how system and non-system Pythons interact with tkinter and why this issue occurs, see [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/76105219/39396). — Carl G, May 04 '23 at 04:40

Carl G · Answer 1 · 2020-03-03T17:21:42.503

TL;DR set the env. vars. mentioned in tcl-tk's caveats and this GitHub comment when installing new Pythons via pyenv to get tkinter.

First, ensure you have the latest tcl-tk via homebrew and then pay attention to its caveats:

※ brew install tcl-tk
※ brew info tcl-tk
tcl-tk: stable 8.6.10 (bottled) [keg-only]
...
==> Caveats
tcl-tk is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked into /usr/local,
because tk installs some X11 headers and macOS provides an (older) Tcl/Tk.

If you need to have tcl-tk first in your PATH run:
  echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

For compilers to find tcl-tk you may need to set:
  export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib"
  export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include"

For pkg-config to find tcl-tk you may need to set:
  export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib/pkgconfig"
...

You'll also need to know about pyenv's PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS, --with-tcltk-includes, and --with-tcltk-libs, e.g. from this comment.

Next, reinstall Python with the environment variables active:

※ pyenv uninstall 3.8.1
※ env \
  PATH="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/bin:$PATH" \
  LDFLAGS="-L$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib" \
  CPPFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/include" \
  PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib/pkgconfig" \
  CFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/include" \
  PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--with-tcltk-includes='-I$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/include' --with-tcltk-libs='-L$(brew --prefix tcl-tk)/lib -ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6'" \
  pyenv install 3.8.1

It should work now:

※ pyenv global 3.8.1
※ python
Python 3.8.1 (default, Feb 29 2020, 11:56:10)
[Clang 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.17)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tkinter
>>> tkinter.TclVersion, tkinter.TkVersion
(8.6, 8.6)
>>> tkinter._test()
# You should get a GUI

If you get the following error, you might be missing the PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS env. var. above.

DEPRECATION WARNING: The system version of Tk is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Please don't rely on it. Set TK_SILENCE_DEPRECATION=1 to suppress this warning.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 4552, in _test
    root = Tk()
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 2263, in __init__
    self._loadtk()
  File "/Users/factor/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1/lib/python3.8/tkinter/__init__.py", line 2279, in _loadtk
    raise RuntimeError("tk.h version (%s) doesn't match libtk.a version (%s)"
RuntimeError: tk.h version (8.6) doesn't match libtk.a version (8.5)

For the record this worked out-of-the-box on Linux (Debian 10) as well. The only difference is that the output of `brew info` was a bit different. — Lane Rettig, Jan 08 '21 at 21:54
after I did this, I cannot install python anymore, it shows: BUILD FAILED (OS X 11.1 using python-build 20180424) — BergP, Jan 13 '21 at 16:21
@BergP you will probably need to provide more of the error message. I would recommend creating a new question that references this answer. You can link to your question from this answer. — Carl G, Jan 20 '21 at 18:49
What saved me was installing the `tk-devel` package. I already had python3-tkinter installed but it wasn't enough. After installing the tk-devel package I could successfully install python version via `pyenv install ` command without errors. — Michal, Jun 27 '23 at 13:32

score 49 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 24 '23 at 22:33

Here is step by step guide to make tkinter (and IDLE) work if you use pyenv for Python environments management on macOS:

install tcl-tk with Homebrew. In shell run brew install tcl-tk
in shell run echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
reload shell by quitting Terminal app or run source ~/.zshrc
after reloaded check that tcl-tk is in $PATH. Run echo $PATH | grep --color=auto tcl-tk. As the result you should see your $PATH contents with tcl-tk highlighted
now we run three commands from Homebrew's output from step #1
1. in shell run export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib"
2. in shell run export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include"
3. in shell run export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib/pkgconfig"
if you have your Python version already installed with pyenv then uninstall it with pyenv uninstall <your python version>. E.g. pyenv uninstall 3.8.2
set environment variable that will be used by python-build. In shell run PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--with-tcltk-includes='-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include' --with-tcltk-libs='-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib -ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6'" Note: in future use tck-tk version that actually installed with Homebrew. At the moment of posting 8.6 was the actual
finally install Python with pyenv with pyenv install <version>. E.g. pyenv install 3.8.2

Test

in shell run pyenv global <verion that you've just installed>
now check IDLE. In shell run idle. You should see IDLE window without any warnings and "text printed in red".

now check tkinter. In shell run python -m tkinter -c "tkinter._test()". You should see test window like on the image:

That's it!

My environment:

check this is something went wrong executing steps above:

macOS Catalina
zsh (included in macOS Catalina) = "shell" above
Homebrew (installed with instructions from Homebrew official website)
pyenv (installed with Homebrew and PATH updated according to pyenv official readme from GitHub)
Python 3.8.x - 3.9.x (installed with pyenv install <version> command)

This was very helpful! I was able to do it in fewer steps by simply using the `env` approach (i.e., no need to edit ~/.zshrc to add all the exports): `env PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--with-tcltk-includes='-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include' --with-tcltk-libs='-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib -ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6' --enable-shared" pyenv install 3.8.5` I added --enable-shared since PyInstaller needs it. If you don't need it: `env PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--with-tcltk-includes='-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include' --with-tcltk-libs='-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib -ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6'" pyenv install 3.8.5` — davedgd, Aug 12 '20 at 22:37
Very interesting. But enough there for me to think "nope" - I'll do without idle. Python infrastructure is a complete and utter mess. — RichieHH, Apr 03 '21 at 12:57
I got the same error message as Carl G. Then I tried this method and it works for me. The step 7 is the key to solve the problem in this post, where you need to point `python-build` to use the correct version of tcl-tk before you run `pyenv install 3.x.x` — infinity_coding7, May 19 '21 at 16:00
I tried this on an M1 Mac, but unfortunately the last step "pyenv install 3.x.x" (where I did 3.7.9) gives a "BUILD FAILURE". I guess it's some complicated M1 Mac issue and I'll have to use home-brew in x86 mode but that's annoying... — Nick, Oct 05 '21 at 21:35
For those using asdf in place of pyenv above, I recently upgraded asdf via homebrew to v0.10.2 and it broke all file paths within /Users//.asdf/shims/*. I had to manually open each file under this directory and replace the /0.10.1/ in the file path with /0.10.2/. Not sure why this happened... — Chris Smith, Oct 25 '22 at 01:50

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '23 at 17:00

8

At the time of this writing, it appears that tcl-tk is no longer keg-only and, therefore, setting environment variables is no longer needed:

※ brew info tcl-tk
==> tcl-tk: stable 8.6.13 (bottled)
...
==> Caveats
The sqlite3_analyzer binary is in the `sqlite-analyzer` formula.
==> Analytics
...

Indeed, I was able to provide pyenv with tkinter and solve the poster's problem simply by running:

※ pyenv uninstall <python version>
※ brew install tcl-tk
※ pyenv install <python version>

(FWIW, I am using MacOS Ventura on an Apple silicon processor.)

answered Mar 21 '23 at 17:00

Jorma

81
1
4

1

On an Apple M1 in 2023, this seems to be the best way to fix this! – Jakob Hohlfeld Apr 15 '23 at 18:57
I also confirm that this works flawlessly on MacOs Ventura. The other methods are overcomplicating everything and I'm glad that I scrolled enough in order to find a better approach. – Dan Aug 30 '23 at 17:51

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 06 '21 at 00:24

For MacOS Big Sur (11.2.3), Carl G's answer didn't work for me because I got a zlib error. Building off of this answer and this blog post, I found success with

brew install bzip2
export LDFLAGS="-L $(xcrun --show-sdk-path)/usr/lib -L brew --prefix bzip2/lib"
export CFLAGS="-L $(xcrun --show-sdk-path)/usr/include -L brew --prefix bzip2/include"
export PYTHON_CONFIGURE_OPTS="--with-tcltk-includes='-I/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/include' --with-tcltk-libs='-L/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk/lib -ltcl8.6 -ltk8.6' --enable-framework"
pyenv install 3.8.6

Salma Elshahawy · Answer 5 · 2021-01-15T16:44:08.747

I had the same issue when I tried to install tkinter through pyenv. I was able to fix it using the following in case someone has the same problem and still want to stick with pyenv.

The Fix

I followed @nickolay instructions to install tkinter and set the path the proper way.
Then, I installed anaconda3-2020.07 using the pyenv install anaconda3-2020.07 command.
Because I am using pyenv python 3.8.6 globally: I navigated to the folder I want to use tkinter and used the anaconda3-2020.07 locally by utilizing the command pyenv local anaconda3-2020.07to use this version of pyenv in that specific folder. It ran without errors!

Note: I am using the following script in the .bash_profile to trigger the virtualenv automatically when cd the desired directory

# manage python version using pyenv
if command -v pyenv 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
  eval "$(pyenv init -)"
fi

# add pyenv virtualenv
eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 05 '21 at 01:01

-1

For Python 3.9 and above version, you can use the following formula

brew install python-tk@3.9

It will instal python@3.9 and tcl-tk and bind them for you.

answered Jul 05 '21 at 01:01

Pay C.

1,048
1
13
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This doesn't help when using pyenv – SynackSA Jul 22 '21 at 14:28

Unable to install tkinter with pyenv Pythons on MacOS

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