Wish based tools (git-gui, gitk) showing broken/black UI on macOS Monterey

Question

Wish based tools for instance git-gui and gitk are showing a black/broken screen after upgrading to macOS Monterey:

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

It seems that the Tcl/Tk version (8.5) shipped with macOS Monterey is broken.

A possible fix:

use the version shipped with Homebrew

Assuming Homebrew is already setup, do:

brew upgrade
brew install tcl-tk

Then setup a link to the new version of wish:

cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s ../Cellar/tcl-tk/8.6.12/bin/wish wish

Eventually replace 8.6.12 with the version exposed by:

brew info tcl-tk

Restart your terminal and all wish-based utilities should work well!

Answer 2

There is a link that brew is unable to manage correctly

ls -l /usr/bin/wish
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  7 Jan 22 08:42 /usr/bin/wish -> wish8.5

I have found this workaround

brew tap-new --no-git $USER/local-tap-git-2-32
brew extract --version=2.32 git $USER/local-tap-git-2-32
brew install git@2.32
/usr/local/opt/git@2.32/bin/git --version
brew link --overwrite git@2.32
brew tap-new --no-git $USER/local-tap-tcl-tk-8-6-10
brew extract --version=8.6.10 tcl-tk $USER/local-tap-tcl-tk-8-6-10
brew install tcl-tk@8.6.10
brew link --overwrite tcl-tk@8.6.10

And then run gitk with

/usr/local/opt/tcl-tk@8.6.10/bin/wish  $(which gitk)

Answer 3

As an supplement for existing Homebrew-based solutions, the below is the MacPorts-based one, just 2 steps needed:

Firstly check system information:

$ uname -v
Darwin Kernel Version 21.3.0
$ port -v
MacPorts 2.7.2

Step 1: Install XQuartz, since XOrg window system is not shipped by default on macOS 12(Monterey),

$ Xorg -version
X.Org X Server 1.20.11
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
...

Step 2: Install Tcl and Tk:

# Check if it is newer than 8.5
$ port info tcl
tcl @8.6.12 (lang)
...
$ port info tk@8.6.12
tk @8.6.12 (x11)
...
Install
$ sudo port install tcl@8.6.12
...
$ sudo port install tk@8.6.12
...
Check installation folder. (Might need to open a new Terminal)
$ ls -l $(which tclsh)
/opt/local/bin/tclsh -> tclsh8.6
$ ls -l $(which wish)
/opt/local/bin/wish -> wish8.6

Open wish window: (Here should be an non black/broken window)

$ wish

Done.