FYI,
this came over the gvsig-ce devel list:
(Note, I think the gvSIG problem is also related to doing the final
switch to 64bit)
===================
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:02:21 +0100
From: Benjamin Ducke
Subject: [Gvsigce-devs] Dropping ECW support in the next release |
RANT
To: gvsigce-devs <gvsigce-d...@lists.sourceforge.net>
xxxxxxxxxxx
Dear All,
I don't want to say "told you so", but here it goes,
another lesson in long-term maintainability of proprietary
data formats in open source projects. And also a good
example for how much open source "support" from companies
such as ERDAS is really worth.
ECW support is based on an Intergraph SDK that was released
in 2007 under a relatively liberal license. However,
since SDK version 4.x the licensing terms have become ever
more strict and manipulative, so that an open source project
like gvSIG CE cannot really support any post 3.3 version
of the SDK. Read this stuff and laugh (full license text
at
http://download.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/release/gdal/gdal-ecw/gdal-ecw-1.10.1-2.txt):
"[..] if You create or distribute Desktop
Applications, each of those Desktop Applications must read ECW data
and ECWP streams and must allow a user to access the ECW data and ECWP
streams conveniently, with no more steps than is typical for access to
other data formats in Your Desktop Application."
Or this gem:
"[..] or (ii) preventing downloading of Desktop Applications without
acceptance of the end-user license."
Needless to say, we do not have support for ECWP in our
software. And we also do not plan to prevent our users
from _downloading_ gvSIG CE without first agreeing to
ERDAS's (!) ECW licensing terms.
And don't even get me started about their latest SDK
trying to push you into installing a download manager and
requiring administrator privileges in order to infest your
system with crap. To add insult to injury, I could not find
any sign of a Mac OS X version of the current SDK.
Meanwhile, the 3.3 SDK has been pulled from ERDAS'
servers: http://blog.webmapper.com.au/?m=201002
It is possible to still find copies of the source code here
and there on the Internet. However, that source code was
intended for use with Microsoft's Visual C compiler, whereas
our toolchain uses the open source GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
So, if someone wants to install an ancient Visual C compiler
and try to produce 64 bit binaries: be my guest. All relevant
links are on our wiki
(http://gvsigce.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Compiling_the_C/C%2B%2B_support_libraries#ECW).
I am also open to any ideas about how to circumnavigate all of
this crap.
Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, there will be no more support
for ECW on future Windows versions of gvSIG CE. Support in the Linux
and Mac OS X versions can stay in, as along as we are able to compile
the 3.3 sources with GCC. You can install OsGeo4W and use its included
GDAL to convert from ECW to an open format such as GeoTIFF.
Good riddance of a useless format. Any bets on how much longer
we will be able to support MrSID?
Best,
Ben
--
Dr. Benjamin Ducke, M.A.
{*} Geospatial Consultant
{*} GIS Developer
======================
>>> an this part, Ede, is for you. They seemed to had a look at what we
did :)
======================
Hi V?ctor,
On 29/01/14 10:11, Victor Gonzalez wrote:
> Hi Ben,
>
> I agree. So far, most of our efforts with gvSIG CE are intended to
> reduce the project to something that we can realistically maintain. And
> it seems like ECW is pushing itself out of the "maintainability zone".
>
> I don't know how many people usually work with ECW, but maybe some
> directions on how to transform ECW to GeoTIFF would suffice.
>
> However, I'm don't like too much the idea of having different features
> on different operating systems. QGIS 2.0 does that and I hate it. Maybe
> we can drop the ECW support for all platforms. After all, we're going to
> support an outdated version of a propietary format only on some
> operating systems.
I think you are right. I will experiment one more day with getting
ECW support working on all platforms. I have found some 64 bit Windows
DLLs from the OpenJUMP project that could work. If this fails, we will
remove ECW support from all platforms. Even if it works, though, we
will only have support for the 3.3 SDK and will have to consider ECW
supportdepracated and marked for removal in a future release.
Cheers,
Ben
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