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interp(n)		     Tcl Built-In Commands		     interp(n)

______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       interp - Create and manipulate Tcl interpreters

SYNOPSIS
       interp option ?arg arg ...?
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       This  command  makes  it	 possible to create one or more new Tcl inter‐
       preters that co-exist with the creating interpreter in the same	appli‐
       cation.	 The  creating	interpreter  is	 called the master and the new
       interpreter is called a slave.  A  master  can  create  any  number  of
       slaves, and each slave can itself create additional slaves for which it
       is master, resulting in a hierarchy of interpreters.

       Each interpreter is independent from the others: it has	its  own  name
       space  for commands, procedures, and global variables.  A master inter‐
       preter may create connections between its slaves	 and  itself  using  a
       mechanism  called  an  alias.   An alias is a command in a slave inter‐
       preter which, when invoked, causes a command to be invoked in its  mas‐
       ter  interpreter	 or in another slave interpreter.  The only other con‐
       nections between interpreters are through  environment  variables  (the
       env  variable), which are normally shared among all interpreters in the
       application. Note that the name space for  files	 (such	as  the	 names
       returned by the open command) is no longer shared between interpreters.
       Explicit commands are provided to share files and  to  transfer	refer‐
       ences to open files from one interpreter to another.

       The interp command also provides support for safe interpreters.	A safe
       interpreter is a slave whose functions have been greatly restricted, so
       that  it is safe to execute untrusted scripts without fear of them dam‐
       aging other interpreters or the application's environment. For example,
       all  IO	channel creation commands and subprocess creation commands are
       made inaccessible to safe interpreters.	See  SAFE  INTERPRETERS	 below │
       for  more  information  on  what	 features are present in a safe inter‐ │
       preter.	The dangerous functionality  is	 not  removed  from  the  safe │
       interpreter;  instead,  it is hidden, so that only trusted interpreters │
       can obtain access to it. For a detailed explanation of hidden commands, │
       see  HIDDEN  COMMANDS, below.  The alias mechanism can be used for pro‐ │
       tected communication (analogous to  a  kernel  call)  between  a	 slave │
       interpreter  and	 its  master.	See  ALIAS INVOCATION, below, for more │
       details on how the alias mechanism works.

       A qualified interpreter name is a proper Tcl lists containing a	subset
       of its ancestors in the interpreter hierarchy, terminated by the string
       naming the interpreter in its immediate master. Interpreter  names  are
       relative	 to  the interpreter in which they are used. For example, if a
       is a slave of the current interpreter and it has a slave a1,  which  in
       turn  has  a  slave  a11, the qualified name of a11 in a is the list a1
       a11.

       The interp command,  described  below,  accepts	qualified  interpreter
       names as arguments; the interpreter in which the command is being eval‐
       uated can always be referred to as {} (the empty list or string).  Note
       that  it	 is  impossible to refer to a master (ancestor) interpreter by
       name in a slave interpreter except through aliases. Also, there	is  no
       global  name by which one can refer to the first interpreter created in
       an application.	Both restrictions are motivated by safety concerns.

THE INTERP COMMAND
       The interp command is used to  create,  delete,	and  manipulate	 slave
       interpreters,  and  to share or transfer channels between interpreters.
       It can have any of several forms, depending on the option argument:

       interp alias srcPath srcToken
	      Returns a Tcl list whose elements are  the  targetCmd  and  args
	      associated  with	the alias represented by srcToken (this is the
	      value returned when the alias was created; it is	possible  that
	      the  name	 of  the source command in the slave is different from
	      srcToken).

       interp alias srcPath srcToken {}
	      Deletes the alias for srcToken in the slave interpreter  identi‐
	      fied by srcPath.	srcToken refers to the value returned when the
	      alias was created;  if the source command has been renamed,  the
	      renamed command will be deleted.

       interp alias srcPath srcCmd targetPath targetCmd ?arg arg ...?
	      This command creates an alias between one slave and another (see
	      the alias slave command below for	 creating  aliases  between  a
	      slave  and  its  master).	  In this command, either of the slave
	      interpreters may be anywhere in the  hierarchy  of  interpreters
	      under  the interpreter invoking the command.  SrcPath and srcCmd
	      identify the source of the alias.	 SrcPath is a Tcl  list	 whose
	      elements	select a particular interpreter.  For example, ``a b''
	      identifies an interpreter b, which is a slave of interpreter  a,
	      which  is	 a  slave  of the invoking interpreter.	 An empty list
	      specifies the interpreter invoking the  command.	 srcCmd	 gives
	      the  name	 of a new command, which will be created in the source
	      interpreter.  TargetPath and targetCmd specify a	target	inter‐
	      preter and command, and the arg arguments, if any, specify addi‐
	      tional arguments to targetCmd which are prepended to  any	 argu‐
	      ments  specified	in the invocation of srcCmd.  TargetCmd may be
	      undefined at the time of this call, or it may already exist;  it
	      is  not  created	by  this  command.  The alias arranges for the
	      given target command to be invoked  in  the  target  interpreter
	      whenever	the  given  source  command  is	 invoked in the source
	      interpreter.  See ALIAS INVOCATION below for more details.   The
	      command  returns	a  token  that uniquely identifies the command
	      created srcCmd, even if the command is renamed  afterwards.  The
	      token may but does not have to be equal to srcCmd.

       interp aliases ?path?
	      This  command returns a Tcl list of the tokens of all the source
	      commands for aliases defined in the  interpreter	identified  by
	      path.  The  tokens  correspond  to  the values returned when the
	      aliases were created (which may not be the same as  the  current
	      names of the commands).

       interp create ?-safe? ?--? ?path?
	      Creates  a  slave	 interpreter identified by path and a new com‐
	      mand, called a slave command. The name of the slave  command  is
	      the  last	 component  of path. The new slave interpreter and the
	      slave command are created in the interpreter identified  by  the
	      path  obtained  by  removing  the	 last component from path. For
	      example, if path is a b c then a new slave interpreter and slave
	      command named c are created in the interpreter identified by the
	      path a b.	 The slave command may be used to manipulate  the  new
	      interpreter  as described below. If path is omitted, Tcl creates
	      a unique name of the form interpx, where x is  an	 integer,  and
	      uses  it for the interpreter and the slave command. If the -safe
	      switch is specified (or if the  master  interpreter  is  a  safe
	      interpreter),  the  new  slave  interpreter will be created as a
	      safe interpreter with limited functionality; otherwise the slave
	      will  include  the  full	set of Tcl built-in commands and vari‐
	      ables. The -- switch can be used to mark the  end	 of  switches;
	      it  may be needed if path is an unusual value such as -safe. The
	      result of the command is the name of the	new  interpreter.  The
	      name  of a slave interpreter must be unique among all the slaves
	      for its master;  an error occurs if a slave interpreter  by  the
	      given name already exists in this master.	 The initial recursion
	      limit of the slave interpreter is set to the  current  recursion
	      limit of its parent interpreter.

       interp delete ?path ...?
	      Deletes  zero  or	 more  interpreters given by the optional path
	      arguments, and for each interpreter, it also deletes its slaves.
	      The  command also deletes the slave command for each interpreter
	      deleted.	For each path argument, if no interpreter by that name
	      exists, the command raises an error.

       interp eval path arg ?arg ...?
	      This  command  concatenates all of the arg arguments in the same
	      fashion as the concat  command,  then  evaluates	the  resulting
	      string  as  a  Tcl script in the slave interpreter identified by
	      path. The result of this evaluation (including error information
	      such  as	the  errorInfo	and  errorCode	variables, if an error
	      occurs) is returned to the invoking interpreter.	Note that  the
	      script  will  be	executed in the current context stack frame of
	      the path interpreter; this is so that the implementations (in  a
	      master  interpreter)  of aliases in a slave interpreter can exe‐
	      cute scripts in the slave that find out  information  about  the
	      slave's current state and stack frame.

       interp exists path
	      Returns	1  if a slave interpreter by the specified path exists
	      in this master, 0 otherwise. If path is  omitted,	 the  invoking
	      interpreter is used.

       interp expose path hiddenName ?exposedCmdName?			       │
	      Makes the hidden command hiddenName exposed, eventually bringing │
	      it back under a new exposedCmdName name (this name is  currently │
	      accepted	only  if  it is a valid global name space name without │
	      any ::), in the interpreter denoted by path.  If an exposed com‐ │
	      mand  with the targeted name already exists, this command fails. │
	      Hidden commands are explained in more detail in HIDDEN COMMANDS, │
	      below.							       │

       interp hide path exposedCmdName ?hiddenCmdName?			       │
	      Makes  the exposed command exposedCmdName hidden, renaming it to │
	      the hidden command hiddenCmdName, or keeping the	same  name  if │
	      hiddenCmdName  is not given, in the interpreter denoted by path. │
	      If a hidden command with the targeted name already exists,  this │
	      command  fails.  Currently both exposedCmdName and hiddenCmdName │
	      can not contain namespace qualifiers, or	an  error  is  raised. │
	      Commands to be hidden by interp hide are looked up in the global │
	      namespace even if the current namespace is not the  global  one. │
	      This prevents slaves from fooling a master interpreter into hid‐ │
	      ing the wrong command, by making the current namespace  be  dif‐ │
	      ferent  from  the	 global one.  Hidden commands are explained in │
	      more detail in HIDDEN COMMANDS, below.			       │

       interp hidden path						       │
	      Returns a list of the names of all hidden commands in the inter‐ │
	      preter identified by path.				       │

       interp invokehidden path ?-global? hiddenCmdName ?arg ...?	       │
	      Invokes the hidden command hiddenCmdName with the arguments sup‐ │
	      plied in the interpreter denoted by path.	 No  substitutions  or │
	      evaluation are applied to the arguments.	If the -global flag is │
	      present, the hidden command is invoked at the  global  level  in │
	      the  target  interpreter; otherwise it is invoked at the current │
	      call frame and can access local variables in that and outer call │
	      frames.	Hidden commands are explained in more detail in HIDDEN │
	      COMMANDS, below.

       interp issafe ?path?
	      Returns 1 if the interpreter identified by the specified path is
	      safe, 0 otherwise.

       interp marktrusted path						       │
	      Marks  the  interpreter  identified by path as trusted. Does not │
	      expose the hidden commands. This command	can  only  be  invoked │
	      from  a  trusted	interpreter.  The command has no effect if the │
	      interpreter identified by path is already trusted.

       interp recursionlimit path ?newlimit?
	      Returns the maximum allowable nesting depth for the  interpreter
	      specified	 by  path.   If newlimit is specified, the interpreter
	      recursion limit will  be	set  so	 that  nesting	of  more  than
	      newlimit	calls  to  Tcl_Eval()  and  related procedures in that
	      interpreter will return an error.	 The newlimit  value  is  also
	      returned.	 The newlimit value must be a positive integer between
	      1 and the maximum value of a non-long integer on the platform.

	      The command sets the maximum size of the Tcl call stack only. It
	      cannot  by  itself  prevent stack overflows on the C stack being
	      used by the application. If your machine has a limit on the size
	      of  the C stack, you may get stack overflows before reaching the
	      limit set by the command. If this happens, see  if  there	 is  a
	      mechanism	 in your system for increasing the maximum size of the
	      C stack.

       interp share srcPath channelId destPath
	      Causes the IO channel identified by channelId to	become	shared
	      between  the  interpreter	 identified  by srcPath and the inter‐
	      preter identified by destPath. Both interpreters have  the  same
	      permissions  on the IO channel.  Both interpreters must close it
	      to close the underlying IO channel; IO channels accessible in an
	      interpreter  are	automatically  closed  when  an interpreter is
	      destroyed.

       interp slaves ?path?
	      Returns a Tcl list of the names of all  the  slave  interpreters
	      associated  with	the interpreter identified by path. If path is
	      omitted, the invoking interpreter is used.

       interp target path alias
	      Returns a Tcl list describing  the  target  interpreter  for  an
	      alias.  The  alias  is  specified	 with  an interpreter path and
	      source command name, just as in interp alias above. The name  of
	      the target interpreter is returned as an interpreter path, rela‐
	      tive to the invoking interpreter.	 If the target interpreter for
	      the  alias  is  the  invoking  interpreter then an empty list is
	      returned. If the target interpreter for the  alias  is  not  the
	      invoking	interpreter or one of its descendants then an error is
	      generated.  The target command does not have to  be  defined  at
	      the time of this invocation.

       interp transfer srcPath channelId destPath
	      Causes  the  IO channel identified by channelId to become avail‐
	      able in the interpreter identified by destPath  and  unavailable
	      in the interpreter identified by srcPath.

SLAVE COMMAND
       For  each  slave interpreter created with the interp command, a new Tcl
       command is created in the master interpreter with the same name as  the
       new  interpreter. This command may be used to invoke various operations
       on the interpreter.  It has the following general form:
	      slave command ?arg arg ...?
       Slave is the name of the interpreter, and command and the  args	deter‐
       mine  the  exact behavior of the command.  The valid forms of this com‐
       mand are:

       slave aliases
	      Returns a Tcl list whose elements are  the  tokens  of  all  the
	      aliases  in slave.  The tokens correspond to the values returned
	      when the aliases were created (which may not be the same as  the
	      current names of the commands).

       slave alias srcToken
	      Returns  a  Tcl  list  whose elements are the targetCmd and args
	      associated with the alias represented by srcToken (this  is  the
	      value  returned  when the alias was created; it is possible that
	      the actual source command in the slave is different from	srcTo‐
	      ken).

       slave alias srcToken {}
	      Deletes the alias for srcToken in the slave interpreter.	srcTo‐
	      ken refers to the value returned when the alias was created;  if
	      the source command has been renamed, the renamed command will be
	      deleted.

       slave alias srcCmd targetCmd ?arg ..?
	      Creates an alias such that whenever srcCmd is invoked in	slave,
	      targetCmd	 is  invoked in the master.  The arg arguments will be
	      passed to targetCmd as additional	 arguments,  prepended	before
	      any  arguments  passed  in  the invocation of srcCmd.  See ALIAS
	      INVOCATION below for details.  The command returns a token  that
	      uniquely identifies the command created srcCmd, even if the com‐
	      mand is renamed afterwards. The token may but does not  have  to
	      be equal to srcCmd.

       slave eval arg ?arg ..?
	      This  command  concatenates all of the arg arguments in the same
	      fashion as the concat  command,  then  evaluates	the  resulting
	      string  as a Tcl script in slave.	 The result of this evaluation
	      (including error information such as the errorInfo and errorCode
	      variables,  if  an  error	 occurs)  is  returned to the invoking
	      interpreter.  Note that the script will be executed in the  cur‐
	      rent context stack frame of slave; this is so that the implemen‐
	      tations (in a master interpreter) of aliases in a	 slave	inter‐
	      preter  can  execute scripts in the slave that find out informa‐
	      tion about the slave's current state and stack frame.

       slave expose hiddenName ?exposedCmdName?				       │
	      This command exposes the hidden command  hiddenName,  eventually │
	      bringing	it  back under a new exposedCmdName name (this name is │
	      currently accepted only if it is a valid global name space  name │
	      without  any ::), in slave.  If an exposed command with the tar‐ │
	      geted name already exists, this command fails.  For more details │
	      on hidden commands, see HIDDEN COMMANDS, below.		       │

       slave hide exposedCmdName ?hiddenCmdName?			       │
	      This  command hides the exposed command exposedCmdName, renaming │
	      it to the hidden command hiddenCmdName, or keeping the same name │
	      if  the  argument	 is not given, in the slave interpreter.  If a │
	      hidden command with the targeted name already exists, this  com‐ │
	      mand fails.  Currently both exposedCmdName and hiddenCmdName can │
	      not contain namespace qualifiers, or an error is	raised.	  Com‐ │
	      mands to be hidden are looked up in the global namespace even if │
	      the current namespace is	not  the  global  one.	This  prevents │
	      slaves  from  fooling a master interpreter into hiding the wrong │
	      command, by making the current namespace be different  from  the │
	      global  one.   For  more	details on hidden commands, see HIDDEN │
	      COMMANDS, below.						       │

       slave hidden							       │
	      Returns a list of the names of all hidden commands in slave.     │

       slave invokehidden ?-global hiddenName ?arg ..?			       │
	      This command invokes the hidden command hiddenName with the sup‐ │
	      plied  arguments,	 in slave. No substitutions or evaluations are │
	      applied to the arguments.	 If the -global	 flag  is  given,  the │
	      command  is  invoked at the global level in the slave; otherwise │
	      it is invoked at the current call frame  and  can	 access	 local │
	      variables	 in  that  or  outer call frames.  For more details on │
	      hidden commands, see HIDDEN COMMANDS, below.

       slave issafe
	      Returns  1 if the slave interpreter is safe, 0 otherwise.

       slave marktrusted						       │
	      Marks the slave interpreter as trusted. Can only be invoked by a │
	      trusted  interpreter.  This  command  does not expose any hidden │
	      commands in the slave interpreter. The command has no effect  if │
	      the slave is already trusted.

       slave recursionlimit ?newlimit?
	      Returns the maximum allowable nesting depth for the slave inter‐
	      preter.  If newlimit is specified, the recursion limit in	 slave
	      will  be	set  so	 that  nesting	of more than newlimit calls to
	      Tcl_Eval() and related procedures in slave will return an error.
	      The newlimit value is also returned.  The newlimit value must be
	      a positive integer between 1 and the maximum value of a non-long
	      integer on the platform.

	      The command sets the maximum size of the Tcl call stack only. It
	      cannot by itself prevent stack overflows on the  C  stack	 being
	      used by the application. If your machine has a limit on the size
	      of the C stack, you may get stack overflows before reaching  the
	      limit  set  by  the  command. If this happens, see if there is a
	      mechanism in your system for increasing the maximum size of  the
	      C stack.

SAFE INTERPRETERS
       A  safe	interpreter  is	 one with restricted functionality, so that is
       safe to execute an arbitrary script from your worst enemy without  fear
       of  that	 script damaging the enclosing application or the rest of your
       computing environment.  In order to make an interpreter	safe,  certain
       commands	 and variables are removed from the interpreter.  For example,
       commands to create files on disk are removed, and the exec  command  is
       removed,	 since	it could be used to cause damage through subprocesses.
       Limited access to these facilities can be provided, by creating aliases
       to  the	master	interpreter  which check their arguments carefully and
       provide restricted access to a safe subset of facilities.  For example,
       file creation might be allowed in a particular subdirectory and subpro‐
       cess invocation might be allowed for a carefully selected and fixed set
       of programs.

       A  safe	interpreter  is	 created by specifying the -safe switch to the
       interp create command.  Furthermore, any slave created by a safe inter‐
       preter will also be safe.

       A  safe interpreter is created with exactly the following set of built-
       in	  commands:	    after	append	    array	binary
       break	   case	       catch	   clock  close	      concat	  con‐
       tinue	eof		  error	      eval	  expr	      fblocked
       fcopy	   fileevent   flush	   for		      foreach	  for‐
       mat	gets	    global  if		incr	    info	interp
       join	   lappend     lindex	   linsert
       list	   llength     lrange	   lreplace
       lsearch	   lsort       namespace   package
       pid	   proc	       puts	   read		      regexp	  reg‐
       sub	rename	    return   scan	 seek	     set	 split
       string	   subst       switch	   tell
       time	   trace       unset	   update
       uplevel	   upvar       variable	   vwait while
       The following commands are hidden by interp create when	it  creates  a │
       safe   interpreter:  cd		encoding    exec	exit  fconfig‐ │
       ure  file	glob	    load				       │
       open	   pwd	       socket	   source These commands can be recre‐ │
       ated later as Tcl  procedures  or  aliases,  or	re-exposed  by	interp │
       expose.								       │

       The following commands from Tcl's library of support procedures are not │
       present		 in	      a		  safe		  interpreter: │
       auto_exec_ok    auto_import     auto_load    auto_load_index auto_qual‐ │
       ify    unknown Note  in	particular  that  safe	interpreters  have  no │
       default	unknown	 command,  so Tcl's default autoloading facilities are │
       not available.  Autoload access to Tcl's	 commands  that	 are  normally │
       autoloaded:			 auto_mkindex	      auto_mkindex_old │
       auto_reset	    history	      parray		   pkg_mkIndex │
       ::pkg::create	    ::safe::interpAddToAccessPath   ::safe::interpCre‐ │
       ate ::safe::interpConfigure   ::safe::interpDelete ::safe::interpFindI‐ │
       nAccessPath	::safe::interpInit   ::safe::setLogCmd	    tcl_endOf‐ │
       Word	   tcl_findLibrary   tcl_startOfNextWord  tcl_startOfPrevious‐ │
       Word  tcl_wordBreakAfter	  tcl_wordBreakBefore  can only be provided by │
       explicit definition of an unknown  command  in  the  safe  interpreter. │
       This  will  involve  exposing  the source command.  This is most easily │
       accomplished by creating the safe interpreter with Tcl's Safe-Tcl mech‐ │
       anism.	Safe-Tcl provides safe versions of source, load, and other Tcl │
       commands needed to support autoloading of commands and the  loading  of │
       packages.

       In  addition, the env variable is not present in a safe interpreter, so
       it cannot share environment variables with other interpreters. The  env
       variable	 poses	a  security  risk,  because  users can store sensitive
       information in an environment variable. For  example,  the  PGP	manual
       recommends storing the PGP private key protection password in the envi‐
       ronment variable PGPPASS. Making this variable available	 to  untrusted
       code executing in a safe interpreter would incur a security risk.

       If  extensions  are  loaded  into  a  safe  interpreter,	 they may also
       restrict their own functionality to eliminate unsafe  commands.	For  a
       discussion  of  management  of  extensions  for	safety	see the manual
       entries for Safe-Tcl and the load Tcl command.

       A safe interpreter may not alter the  recursion	limit  of  any	inter‐
       preter, including itself.

ALIAS INVOCATION
       The  alias mechanism has been carefully designed so that it can be used
       safely when an untrusted script is executing in a safe  slave  and  the
       target  of  the alias is a trusted master.  The most important thing in
       guaranteeing safety is to ensure that information passed from the slave
       to the master is never evaluated or substituted in the master;  if this
       were to occur, it would enable an evil script in the  slave  to	invoke
       arbitrary functions in the master, which would compromise security.

       When  the  source for an alias is invoked in the slave interpreter, the
       usual Tcl substitutions are performed when parsing that command.	 These
       substitutions  are  carried  out in the source interpreter just as they
       would be for any other command invoked in that interpreter.   The  com‐
       mand  procedure	for  the source command takes its arguments and merges
       them with the targetCmd and args for the alias to create a new array of
       arguments.   If the words of srcCmd were ``srcCmd arg1 arg2 ... argN'',
       the new set of words will be ``targetCmd arg arg ... arg arg1 arg2  ...
       argN'', where targetCmd and args are the values supplied when the alias
       was created.  TargetCmd is then used to locate a command	 procedure  in
       the  target interpreter, and that command procedure is invoked with the
       new set of arguments.  An error occurs if there	is  no	command	 named
       targetCmd  in  the target interpreter.  No additional substitutions are
       performed on the	 words:	  the  target  command	procedure  is  invoked
       directly,  without  going  through the normal Tcl evaluation mechanism.
       Substitutions are thus performed on each word exactly  once:  targetCmd
       and  args  were	substituted  when parsing the command that created the
       alias, and arg1 - argN are substituted when the alias's source  command
       is parsed in the source interpreter.

       When  writing  the  targetCmds  for aliases in safe interpreters, it is
       very important that the arguments to that command never be evaluated or
       substituted,  since  this would provide an escape mechanism whereby the
       slave interpreter could execute arbitrary code in the master.  This  in
       turn would compromise the security of the system.		       │

HIDDEN COMMANDS								       │
       Safe  interpreters  greatly restrict the functionality available to Tcl │
       programs executing within them.	Allowing the untrusted Tcl program  to │
       have  direct  access to this functionality is unsafe, because it can be │
       used for a variety of attacks on the environment.  However,  there  are │
       times  when there is a legitimate need to use the dangerous functional‐ │
       ity in the context of the safe interpreter. For	example,  sometimes  a │
       program	must  be sourced into the interpreter.	Another example is Tk, │
       where windows are bound to the hierarchy	 of  windows  for  a  specific │
       interpreter; some potentially dangerous functions, e.g.	window manage‐ │
       ment, must be performed on these windows within	the  interpreter  con‐ │
       text.								       │

       The  interp  command provides a solution to this problem in the form of │
       hidden commands. Instead of removing the	 dangerous  commands  entirely │
       from  a	safe  interpreter,  these  commands  are hidden so they become │
       unavailable to Tcl scripts executing in the interpreter. However,  such │
       hidden  commands	 can  be  invoked  by any trusted ancestor of the safe │
       interpreter, in the context  of	the  safe  interpreter,	 using	interp │
       invoke.	Hidden	commands  and exposed commands reside in separate name │
       spaces. It is possible to define a hidden command and an	 exposed  com‐ │
       mand by the same name within one interpreter.			       │

       Hidden  commands	 in  a slave interpreter can be invoked in the body of │
       procedures called in the master during alias invocation.	 For  example, │
       an alias for source could be created in a slave interpreter. When it is │
       invoked in the slave interpreter, a procedure is called in  the	master │
       interpreter  to	check that the operation is allowable (e.g. it asks to │
       source a file that the slave interpreter is  allowed  to	 access).  The │
       procedure then it invokes the hidden source command in the slave inter‐ │
       preter to actually source in the contents of the file.  Note  that  two │
       commands	 named	source	exist in the slave interpreter: the alias, and │
       the hidden command.						       │

       Because a master interpreter may invoke a hidden	 command  as  part  of │
       handling	 an alias invocation, great care must be taken to avoid evalu‐ │
       ating any arguments passed in through the alias invocation.  Otherwise, │
       malicious  slave	 interpreters could cause a trusted master interpreter │
       to execute dangerous commands on their behalf. See the section on ALIAS │
       INVOCATION for a more complete discussion of this topic.	 To help avoid │
       this problem, no substitutions or evaluations are applied to  arguments │
       of interp invokehidden.						       │

       Safe  interpreters  are	not allowed to invoke hidden commands in them‐ │
       selves or in their descendants. This prevents safe slaves from  gaining │
       access to hidden functionality in themselves or their descendants.      │

       The  set	 of  hidden commands in an interpreter can be manipulated by a │
       trusted interpreter using interp expose and  interp  hide.  The	interp │
       expose command moves a hidden command to the set of exposed commands in │
       the interpreter identified by path, potentially renaming the command in │
       the process. If an exposed command by the targeted name already exists, │
       the operation fails. Similarly, interp hide moves an exposed command to │
       the  set	 of hidden commands in that interpreter. Safe interpreters are │
       not allowed to move commands between the set of hidden and exposed com‐ │
       mands, in either themselves or their descendants.		       │

       Currently, the names of hidden commands cannot contain namespace quali‐ │
       fiers, and you must first rename a command in a namespace to the global │
       namespace before you can hide it.  Commands to be hidden by interp hide │
       are looked up in the global namespace even if the current namespace  is │
       not  the	 global one. This prevents slaves from fooling a master inter‐ │
       preter into hiding the wrong command, by making the  current  namespace │
       be different from the global one.

CREDITS
       This  mechanism	is  based  on  the  Safe-Tcl  prototype implemented by
       Nathaniel Borenstein and Marshall Rose.

EXAMPLES
       Creating and using an alias for a command in the current interpreter:
	      interp alias {} getIndex {} lsearch {alpha beta gamma delta}
	      set idx [getIndex delta]

       Executing an arbitrary  command	in  a  safe  interpreter  where	 every
       invokation of lappend is logged:
	      set i [interp create -safe]
	      interp hide $i lappend
	      interp alias $i lappend {} loggedLappend $i
	      proc loggedLappend {i args} {
		 puts "logged invokation of lappend $args"
		 # Be extremely careful about command construction
		 eval [linsert $args 0 \
		       interp invokehidden $i lappend]
	      }
	      interp eval $i $someUntrustedScript

SEE ALSO
       load(n), safe(n), Tcl_CreateSlave(3)

KEYWORDS
       alias, master interpreter, safe interpreter, slave interpreter

Tcl				      7.6			     interp(n)
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