[Gdal-dev] Bug on gdal hdf format webpage?

[Frank Warmerdam]

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 11:27:05 +0100, Vincent Schut <vincent at ecovla.nl> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> the gdal webpage about the hdf format
> (http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/frmt_hdf4.html) says you don't need to
> recompile gdal when you change the MAX_FILE setting in hdf's hlimits.h and
> recompile the hdflib. However, my experience is different: the change in the
> max number of open files of the hdf driver in gdal only changes after
> recompiling gdal too. Which probably makes sense because the hdf lib is
> linked statically into gdal, and not dynamically?
> 
> Am I the only one experiencing this behaviour, or is it a bug on the webpage?
> 
> I'm on an amd64 gentoo linux system, using the hdf library from gentoo
> (4.2.0-r3) and the latest gdal from cvs.

Vincent, 

I suspect this is a difference in build situations.  The web page seems to 
have been written under the assumption that folks are using HDF shared
libraries as opposed to static libraries.  I have changed the text to read:

   If you need open more HDF4 files simultaneously you should change 
   this value and rebuild HDF4 library (and relink GDAL if using static HDF
   libraries).

Hopefully this will be clearer.  Of course, any information about external
libraries and builds tends to be suspect since there are so many ways
people can build things.  Software builders end up having to be pretty
self-reliant. 

Best regards,
-- 
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