A simple (as is) build engine of GDAL library for .NET.
Provides a minimal setup without requirements to install heavy GDAL binaries into your system.
MaxRev.Gdal.Universal
MaxRev.Gdal.Core
MaxRev.Gdal.WindowsRuntime.Minimal
MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal
MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal
CLI Tools - GDAL command-line utilities (gdalinfo, ogr2ogr, gdal_translate, etc.)
MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.win-x64
MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-x64
MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-arm64
MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-x64
MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-arm64
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- Packages (NuGet)
- Table Of Contents
- About this library
- How to use
- Supported runtimes
- Using GDAL functions
- Development
- How to compile on Windows
- How to compile on Unix
- About build configuration
- Building runtime libraries
- FAQ
- Q: Packages does not work on CentOS 7, Ubuntu 18.04
- Q: Can I compile it on Ubuntu or another Unix-based system?
- Q: Projections are not working as expected
- Q: Some drivers complain about missing data files
- Q: Missing {some} drivers, can you add more?
- Q: GDAL functions are not working as expected
- Q: Some types throw exceptions from SWIG on Windows
- Q: In some methods performance is slower on Unix
- Q: OSGeo.OGR.SpatialReference throws System.EntryPointNotFoundException exception
- Q: Packages does not work on MacOS Catalina or lower
- Q: The first run on MacOS is slow and takes more than 3 seconds
- Q: BadImageFormatException on Windows
- Q: Publishing the project with runtime packages
- About and Contacts
- Acknowledgements
- Only generates assemblies and binds everything into one package.
- Provides easy access to GDAL by installing only core and runtime package
- DOES NOT require installation of GDAL. From 3.7.0 version GDAL_DATA is also shipped. While it contains the
proj.dbdatabase you may requireproj-datagrid shifts.
- Does not compile all drivers. Only configured, they are listed below. By default GDAL has a lot of internal drivers.
- Does not change GDAL source code.
- Does not extend GDAL methods.
- Install universal package - MaxRev.Gdal.Universal. It references all runtime packages and the core package. They will be automatically installed during restore. Note that this may increase the size of your nuget cache.
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.Universal- Install core package - MaxRev.Gdal.Core
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.Core- Install libraries for your runtime. You can install one of them or all with no conflicts. There is no requirement to install all of them or GDAL binaries. If you work on Windows and Linux you can skip MacOS package and vice versa.
# windows supported only for x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.WindowsRuntime.Minimal
# install linux bundle which references both arm64 and x64 binaries
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal
# or install a specific runtime
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.arm64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.x64
# install macos bundle which references both arm64 and x64 binaries
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal
# or install a specific runtime
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.arm64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.x64using MaxRev.Gdal.Core;
// call it once, before using GDAL
// this will initialize all GDAL drivers and set PROJ6 shared library paths
GdalBase.ConfigureAll();- Profit! Use it in ordinary flow. See the section below for more info.
The CLI packages provide GDAL command-line utilities (gdalinfo, ogr2ogr, gdal_translate, etc.) that can be invoked from your .NET application. Each CLI package automatically references the corresponding runtime package. You don't have to install the runtime package separately if you are using the CLI package - it includes a package reference to the runtime nugets.
- Install the CLI package for your target platform along with the runtime:
# Windows
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.win-x64
# Linux
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-arm64
# macOS
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-arm64- Use the
GdalClihelper class (automatically included via the package):
using MaxRev.Gdal.CLI;
// GdalCli.Run calls EnsureEnvironment() automatically on module load.
// OPTIONAL - You can also call it explicitly if needed:
// GdalCli.EnsureEnvironment();
// Run a GDAL tool and capture output
var exitCode = GdalCli.Run("gdalinfo", new[] { "--version" },
stdout: Console.Write,
stderr: Console.Error.Write);
// Run with file arguments
var result = GdalCli.Run("ogr2ogr",
new[] { "-f", "GeoJSON", "output.geojson", "input.shp" });
// Get the path to a GDAL tool
var toolPath = GdalCli.GetToolPath("gdalinfo");See tests/MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Tests.CLI for more examples.
The CLI package includes two source files (GdalCli helper and PathInitializer) that are compiled directly into your project via buildTransitive targets. There is no extra assembly dependency - these become part of your application.
On startup, a [ModuleInitializer] automatically configures the process environment so the native GDAL tools can locate their shared libraries:
- Windows: prepends the native runtime directory to
PATH - Linux: prepends to
LD_LIBRARY_PATH - macOS: prepends to
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH - All platforms: sets
GDAL_DATAandPROJ_LIBto the bundled data directories
When you call GdalCli.Run(...), it spawns the tool as a child process which inherits these environment variables. The initialization is idempotent - GdalCli.EnsureEnvironment() can be called explicitly but will only run once.
You can disable the automatic source inclusion by setting MaxRevGdalCliEnablePathInitializer to false in your project file if you want to manage environment setup yourself.
- Windows x64 (.NET Framework 4.6.1+, .NET Standard 2.0+, .NET 6/7/8+)
- Linux x64/arm64 (.NET Framework 4.6.1+, .NET Standard 2.0+, .NET 6/7/8+)
- MacOS x64/arm64 (.NET Framework 4.6.1+, .NET Standard 2.0+, .NET 6/7/8+)
This means you can build .NET Framework applications on Linux/MacOS using Mono. Also, any project based on NET Standard 2.0 or higher can utilize this library.
If you're struggling using GDAL functions. Here's a good place to start:
Enter win directory to find out how.
Detailed guide is here - unix.
Detailed guide is here - osx.
The package configuration is marked as minimal. That means you don't have to install GDAL binaries. Also, some uncommon drivers are not available (were not built).
Drivers included PROJ, GEOS, and more than 200 other drivers.
To view the complete list of drivers, see: tests/gdal-formats/supported_drivers.md.
NOTE: Runtime drivers availability may differ. Ask me about a specific driver for runtime. Please issue if I need to mention any packages.
Starting version 3.9.0 the packages can be compiled and run on .NET Framework 4.6.1+. The libraries and gdal-data will be automatically copied to the output directory. See tests/MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Tests.NetFramework for more info.
Each runtime has to be build separately, but this can be done concurrently as they are using different contexts (build folders). Primary operating bindings (in gdal.core package) are build from windows. Still, the resulting core bindings are the same on each runtime package (OS).
To make everything work smoothly, each configuration targets the same drivers and their versions, respectively.
To start building for a specific runtime, see the README.md in a respective directory.
A: These are old distros and are out of support (EOL). Use docker (see this Dockerfile how to package your app) or a newer distro (GLIBC 2.31+). Packages for older systems are difficult to maintain. From 3.6.x version the Debian 11 distro is used. See this for more info.
A: Yes, you can (see unix folder for readme). All you have to do, is to choose one of the latest distros like Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 11 (recommended). From the 3.6.x version the Debian 11 distro is used by default. It was changed because of EOL of the previous distro (see answer above). Prior to 3.6.x version packages were built on CentOS - glibc of version 2.17. It's the lowest version (in my opinion) that suits all common systems (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora).
A: This package only contains the proj.db database. Make sure you have installed proj-data package. It contains aditional grid shifts and other data required for projections. Add path to your data folder with MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Proj.Configure(). See this for more info.
A: This is related to the previous package versions (prior to 3.7.0). From 3.7.0 version, GDAL_DATA folder is also shipped with core package.
A: Feel free to contribute and I will help you you to add them. Here's the my additional answer.
A: Try to search an issue on github. In 98% of cases, they are working fine.
A: Yes, currently there are some redundant types in OGR namespace. This will be fixed in the next builds.
A: Apparently, it's not a fault of the build engine. I did not face this issue and I use this packages in several production environments.
A: That's a problem with swig bindings. Please, use SpatialReference type from OSR namespace. More info here and here.
A: The current version of packages was compiled on MacOS Ventura and 11.3 SDK respectively. Consider updating your system to at least MacOS 13. The systems that reached EOL (end-of-life) won't be supported.
A: It's a known issue related to the linking of the shared libraries. If you find any solution/workaround, please let me know.
Currently, linker tries to find all shared libraries in the @loader_path/. It should point to the executable directory.
A: Ensure that you are using the same architecture for your project and the runtime package. If you are using AnyCPU, you should use only the x64 runtime package. See the sample project for details in tests/MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Tests.NetFramework.
A: The packages were not signed during build in CI. Why? Because it requires to have a paid developer account which does not fall under this repo maintenance. For the workarounds see osx/README.md.
A: There are several ways to publish. One important thing to keep in mind, that you have to ensure the output folder contains either runtimes/<os>-<arch>/native path, gdal-data folder and maxrev.gdal.core.libshared/proj.db. In most cases this should be handled automatically by dotnet. Usually, we release a runtime-dependent binary. The end user will have to install the .NET runtime, but the size of the app will be small and the build time is faster. Otherwise, you can publish a self-contained app which will include all required .NET runtime libraries. More details on publishing can be found here. Also, see the sample dockerized project for details in tests/MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Tests/Dockerfile.
This work is based on GDAL and GDAL bindings by jgoday.
Contact me in Telegram - MaxRev.
Enjoy!
As the maintainer of this repository, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported the development, especially:
