In python, if the tcl package is not compiled with the threads option, if it runs a tcl/tk application, it will crash with the following error at the end:
TclError: out of stack space (infinite loop?)
To reproduce this, just run the pydoc.gui() program:
import pydoc
pydoc.gui()
This problem will affect pyraf and prevent it from loading. To fix this, compile the tcl package with --enable-threads or in macports, install the thread variant: port install tcl +threads.
THIS IS AWESOME!!! thank you so much! this is the only place wherein i’ve found how to get around this error. Most other sites just note the reason for the error but no one else states how to solve it! YOU ROCK!