[DebianGIS-dev] Bug#501127: Bug#501127: Bug#501127: gdal: BigTIFF support not enabled

[Francesco P. Lovergine]

On Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 10:34:25PM +0200, Francesco P. Lovergine wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 04, 2008 at 03:42:56PM +0200, Sven Geggus wrote:
> > Package: gdal
> > Version: 1.5.2-3
> > Severity: wishlist
> > 
> > 
> > The current Version of gdal does not support Tiff files >4GB
> > (BigTIFF). The reason for this is that gdal is compiled against the
> > systems Tiff library instead of the internal one provided by gdal. 
> > 
> > The problem can be solved easily by adding --with-libtiff=internal to
> > debian/rules and removing libtiff4-dev from Build-Depends.
> > 
> > 
> 
> AFAIK The use of bigtiff is currently not possible because internal-libtiff names
> clash with classic libtiff and that would create problem for third parties
> softwares, which still use the traditional libtiff API and GDAL, e.g. Grass and other ones. 
> Also the new API is still unofficial. Even if the new API is back compatible its use
> would break the old ABI. Definitively something to be considered post lenny...
> 

I also wonder if the new API is so back-compatible to be transparently used by other 
programs just after rebuilding. Maybe FrankW can be more explicative about that. 
My own undestanding is that bigtiff support is still not officially supported, but 
who should be considered as having the last word on TIFF 6.0 updates? I see that
the status of the (alpha? beta?) libtiff4 is unchanged since middle 2007. 
If more tests are required probably it's time to provide the new flavor in
sid to startup a global testing and discover underwater issues...

-- 
Francesco P. Lovergine