Tcl and the CLI

The TotalView CLI is built within version 8.0 of Tcl, which means that TotalView's CLI commands are built into Tcl. The CLI is not a library of commands that you can bring into other implementations of Tcl. Because the Tcl you are running is the standard 8.0 version, the TotalView CLI supports all libraries and operations that run using version 8.0 of Tcl.

Integrating CLI commands into Tcl makes them intrinsic Tcl commands. This means that you can enter and execute CLI commands in exactly the same way as you enter and execute built-in Tcl functions such as file or array. It also means that you can embed Tcl primitives and functions within CLI commands.

For example, you can create a Tcl list that contains a list of threads, use Tcl commands to manipulate that list, and then have a CLI command operate on the elements of this list. Or, you create a Tcl function that dynamically builds the arguments that a process will use when it begins executing.

Because the CLI is an integral part of TotalView's version of Tcl, there are no differences between using a CLI command and using a Tcl command. Furthermore, all CLI operations can be manipulated by Tcl.