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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>My Python application uses GDAL and OGR internally. I install a
private copy of GDAL with my app. I do not want to require the user to add
GDAL's bin directory to the PATH. To work around this, I have been manually
adding the directory to the PATH, importing the needed Python modules (e.g.
osgeo.ogr), and removing the directory from the PATH.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>This strategy has worked fine until I discovered a compatibility
problem with ArcGIS, which my application also uses. Due to an apparent bug in
Arc 9.3 SP1, when my application sets the PATH, a certain geoprocessing tool will
crash if I call it later, even if I reset the PATH to what it was before. It
does not matter what I set the PATH to—I can set it to its current value,
theoretically leaving it unchanged—the Arc tool will always crash. So now
I'm seeking an alternative, because getting ESRI to fix bugs like this is
generally a lost cause.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>My alternative strategy is:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#003399'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>Do not mess with the PATH environment variable at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#003399'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>Explicitly LoadLibrary gdal16.dll by calling Python win32api.LoadLibrary
(must call SetDllDirectory first, as well)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#003399'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>Import the Python modules<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>So, in essence, I am wondering: to have the GDAL and OGR classes
work properly, can I just load gdal16.dll explicitly before trying the Python
bindings, rather than adding the GDAL bin directory to the PATH?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>From testing, it looks like it works, but I wanted to check with
you to be sure. I know this is kludgy but I am sadly accustomed to developing
such workarounds when dealing with ArcGIS...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>Thanks for your help,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'>Jason<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:#003399'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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