How to use a starkit

A starkit normally contains all the application logic and data needed for use on your computer.

The combination of the (application-specific) starkit with a copy of Tclkit (the general purpose but platform-specific runtime) is all you need to run an application on a wide range of platforms.

Suppose you have a starkit called "myapp.kit", and you want to run it...

• first of all, get the appropriate runtime, see downloading tclkit
• if your platform is not supported, see using starkits without tclkit

On Windows, you can launch in several ways:

• from the command line, by typing "tclkit myapp.kit"
• by dragging "myapp.kit" and dropping it on the "tclkit.exe" runtime
• by double clicking "myapp.kit" (if .kit has been associated to tclkit.exe)
• with a batch file "myapp.bat", containing "@tclkit myapp.kit %1 %2 %3 %4 %5"
• by launching tclkit, and entering "source myapp.kit"

On Unix, launching a starkit can be done:

• from the command line, by typing "tclkit myapp.kit"
• by typing "myapp.kit" (if "chmod +x myapp.kit" was done)
• by typing "myapp" (if you did "mv myapp.kit myapp")
• by launching from a graphical shell
• by launching tclkit, and entering "source myapp.kit"

On Macintosh classic, launching happens when:

• you drag "myapp.kit" over the "Tclkit" runtime
• double-click (if the starkit's "creator" has been set to "TKd4")
• by launching tclkit, and entering "source myapp.kit"

Troubleshooting

Access permissions - the default (as of mid-2002) for Starkits is to run in read/only mode. If "myapp.kit" is not writable, then changes to it will not be saved. You can unwrap and re-wrap with the "-writable" option of sdx to turn a read-only starkit into a modifiable one.