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Q&A Why does `tkinter` (or `turtle`, or IDLE) seem to be missing or broken? Isn't it part of the standard library?

I had understood that Python is supposed to come "batteries included", and that the "batteries" specifically include: the tkinter standard library, a simple GUI framework a simple IDE cal...

1 answer  ·  posted 6mo ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by Karl Knechtel‭

#1: Initial revision by user avatar Karl Knechtel‭ · 2024-06-18T10:50:16Z (6 months ago)
Why does `tkinter` (or `turtle`, or IDLE) seem to be missing or broken? Isn't it part of the standard library? 
I had understood that Python is supposed to come "batteries included", and that the "batteries" specifically include:

* the `tkinter` standard library, a simple GUI framework

* a simple IDE called IDLE, implemented using `tkinter`

* the `turtle` standard library, which uses `tkinter` to implement [turtle graphics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_graphics) (useful for teaching Python)

However, none of these is working on my system:

```
>>> import tkinter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'tkinter'
>>> import turtle
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/turtle.py", line 107, in <module>
    import tkinter as TK
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'tkinter'
```
and the IDLE program is nowhere to be found.

I've similarly heard that Python compiled from source might give an error like:
```
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "/path/to/python/tkinter/__init__.py", line 39, in <module>
import _tkinter # If this fails your Python may not be configured for Tk
ImportError: No module named _tkinter
```

What gives? I know that these components [are definitely part of the standard library](https://docs.python.org/3/library/tk.html).