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Using wapptclsh instead of standard tclsh
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Using wapptclsh instead of standard tclsh

(1.2) By Vetelko (vetelko) on 2024-12-26 07:56:07 edited from 1.1 [link] [source] 

Aha moment! It's 5 years, I’ve discovered Wapp :) 

I don't know how to compile Tcl (currently version 9.0) in a way that the sqlite3 command would be built-in avoiding to call load or package require. So today, I started using the compiled version of wapptclsh instead of the standard tclsh interpreter, even for my simple CLI scripts that aren’t related to web development. 

This way, I have both Tcl and sqlite in a single binary, with no dependency on any external tcl or sqlite binary libraries—and as a bonus, Wapp, of course! :)

(2) By D. Richard Hipp (drh) on 2024-12-26 11:25:03 in reply to 1.2 [link] [source]

So today, I started using the compiled version of wapptclsh instead of the standard tclsh interpreter, even for my simple CLI scripts that aren’t related to web development.

That's also what I do on the server for SQLite. The website runs in a chroot jail that has access to just two executables: fossil and wapptclsh. (Actually, there are a few more for testing and historical compatibility, but those two are the only ones currently used in production.)

(3) By Sudheer Apte (skiask) on 2025-01-08 15:20:20 in reply to 1.2 [link] [source] 

I like wapptclsh for the same reason. But I found a strange thing: when I run "wapptclsh" at the command line, it doesn't give me an interactive prompt. It always expects a filename argument.

Looking at the wapptclsh.c.in file, the function wapptclsh_init_proc has a comment that says it should return NULL to run interactively, but the function never returns NULL. It has something to do with how "main_script" is set by the tcl script (wapptclsh.tcl).

(4.9) By Vetelko (vetelko) on 2025-01-10 12:24:44 edited from 4.8 in reply to 3 [source]

Hi Sudheer,

This is done by modifying the wapptclsh.tcl file ... I tried it, got into the shell, but as an eternal Tcl beginner, I hope this is the right way :) Maybe drh will change it the right way in the future.

  1. It will take you to the shell if called without option or filename
  2. Has welcome banner
  3. Handles the -v option or prints usage for any other option.
  4. Handles non-existent files or files you do not have access rights to.
  5. The built-in server still works :)

Tip: I'm wrapping shell with rlwrap:
rlwrap -a -- wapptclsh

Gist: wapptclsh.tcl - final