# Downloading Tcl #

Potato is written in [Tcl/Tk](http://www.tcl.tk), an interpreted language available for many platforms. The [binary downloads](Downloads) of Potato for Windows and Mac OS X include a Tcl interpreter, so you don't need to install one. However, if you're [running Potato from GIT or the source](RunFromSource), you'll need a copy of Tcl, too. Potato runs best on Tcl/Tk 8.6, but will also work on Tcl/Tk 8.5. It will **not** run with Tcl/Tk 8.4 or older.

If you're running Windows or MacOS X and don't already have Tcl installed on your system, we recommend you install [ActiveTcl](http://www.activestate.com), a full Tcl/Tk install from ActiveState. This includes everything you need to start using Potato.

When running on Linux, it's generally easier to install Tcl and Tk through the OS's package management system. However, if you don't wish to or are unable to, you can download and install [ActiveTcl](http://www.activestate.com).

On Debian based systems they are probably simply called tcl and tk. If you want ssl support, also install tcl-tls. To support window flashing, you'll also want tcl-dev and tk-dev.

```
apt-get install tcl tk
# Optionally for ssl support:
apt-get install tcl-tls
# Optionally for window flashing:
apt-get install tcl-dev tk-dev
```

On Gentoo they are called tcl and tk. For ssl support the package is dev-tcltk/tls.

```
emerge tcl tk
# Optionally for ssl support:
emerge dev-tcltk/tls
```

Fedora:
```
dnf install tcl tk
dnf install tcl-devel tk-devel
dnf install tcltls
```