Upgraded to 2.9...LCNC fails on startup - no module named tkinter

Error report created by /usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc/show_errors.tcl:

Print file information:
RUN_IN_PLACE=no
LINUXCNC_DIR=
LINUXCNC_BIN_DIR=/usr/bin
LINUXCNC_TCL_DIR=/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc
LINUXCNC_SCRIPT_DIR=
LINUXCNC_RTLIB_DIR=/usr/lib/linuxcnc/modules
LINUXCNC_CONFIG_DIR=
LINUXCNC_LANG_DIR=/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc/msgs
INIVAR=inivar
HALCMD=halcmd
LINUXCNC_EMCSH=/usr/bin/wish8.6
LINUXCNC - 2.9.0-pre0-1865-g5397271f1
Machine configuration directory is '/home/linuxcnc/linuxcnc/configs/sodick'
Machine configuration file is 'sodick320.ini'
INIFILE=/home/linuxcnc/linuxcnc/configs/sodick/sodick320.ini
VERSION=
update script failed in an unexpected way.

Debug file information:
Can not find -sec EMC -var VERSION -num 1 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/update_ini", line 11, in <module>
    from tkinter import *
ImportError: No module named tkinter



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Info report created by linuxcnc_info:
The file:    /tmp/linuxcnc_info.txt
can be posted to a forum or a web site like:
     http://pastebin.com
in order to provide information about the linuxcnc
system and configuration.

                Date: Fri May 1 19:14:54 SAST 2020
            UTC Date: Fri May 1 17:14:54 UTC 2020
        this program: /usr/bin/linuxcnc_info
              uptime: 19:14:54 up 7:36, 1 user, load average: 0.09, 0.21, 0.18
     lsb_release -sa: Debian Debian GNU/Linux 9.12 (stretch) 9.12 stretch
      which linuxcnc: /usr/bin/linuxcnc
                 pwd: /home/linuxcnc
                USER: linuxcnc
             LOGNAME: linuxcnc
                HOME: /home/linuxcnc
              EDITOR: 
              VISUAL: 
            LANGUAGE: en_ZA:en
                TERM: dumb
           COLORTERM: 
             DISPLAY: :0.0
             DESKTOP: lightdm-xsession
        display size: 1366x768 pixels (361x203 millimeters)
                PATH: /usr/bin:/home/linuxcnc/linuxcnc/configs/sodick/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

uname items:
         nodename -n: debian
      kernel-name -s: Linux
      kernel-vers -v: #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Debian 4.9.110-3+deb9u5 (2018-09-30)
          machine -m: i686
        processor -p: unknown
         platform -i: unknown
      oper system -o: GNU/Linux

/proc items:
             cmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-8-rt-686-pae root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet
          model name: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6400 @ 2.13GHz
               cores: 2
             cpu MHz: 2133.000
             parport: 0000-0000 : parport0 0000-0000 : parport0
              serial: 0000-0000 : serial 0000-0000 : serial 0000-0000 : serial 0000-0000 : serial

Versions:
                 gcc: gcc (Debian 6.3.0-18+deb9u1) 6.3.0 20170516
              python: Python 2.7.13
                 git: not_in_PATH
          git commit: NA
                 tcl: 8.6
                  tk: 8.6
               glade: not_in_PATH
          glade-gtk2: not_in_PATH

linuxcnc_var all:

     LINUXCNCVERSION: 2.9.0-pre0-1865-g5397271f1
LINUXCNC_AUX_GLADEVCP: /usr/share/linuxcnc/aux_gladevcp
LINUXCNC_AUX_EXAMPLES: /usr/share/linuxcnc/aux_examples
            REALTIME: /etc/init.d/realtime
                 RTS: uspace
          HALLIB_DIR: /usr/share/linuxcnc/hallib

dpkg -l '*linuxcnc*':
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name            Version                      Architecture Description
+++-===============-============================-============-=====================================================================
un  linuxcnc        <none>                       <none>       (no description available)
un  linuxcnc-doc    <none>                       <none>       (no description available)
ii  linuxcnc-doc-en 1:2.9.0~pre0.1865.g5397271f1 all          motion controller for CNC machines and robots (English documentation)
un  linuxcnc-sim    <none>                       <none>       (no description available)
ii  linuxcnc-uspace 1:2.9.0~pre0.1865.g5397271f1 i386         motion controller for CNC machines and robots