[Gdal-dev] ECW build and licensing, forthcoming source distribution (was: ECW Problems?)

[Bill Binko]

Tom, thanks for the update.

I recently got ECW DOQQs for about 1/4 of Florida, which I'd like to
integrate into my mapserver-based site.  To do that effectively, I need
GDAL to work well with them, and hence a working ECW library.I am looking
forward to being able to use GDAL's utilities to build a pyramid tiling
scheme and making these available to my users.

As I mentioned in the post, (for the benefit of those cross-posted) the
current problem happenes about 1 in 3 executions of any GDAL utility (or
mapserver call to GDAL), and basically never lets the process end.  There
is a hanging thread or a deadlock somewhere between the GDAL and ECW use 
of pthreads.

I am happy to assist in debugging this, but would like to do so with the 
most recent version possible, and only if necessary. 

I have downloaded RC2 and will to build it and try again.  It will 
probably be Monday before I can report back.

Thanks for the update, and I (seriously) look forward to the simpler build 
system (hint, hint - autoconf is EVIL, but it works).

Thanks

Bill

PS: now that Frank is back from vacation, I might bug him about this as 
well :)



On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, Tom Lynch wrote:

> Hi Bill,
> 
> Thanks for reporting this problem, we're checking it out.  The ECW
> JPEG 2000 SDK RC2 source code has actually been online for some time,
> and should be slightly more pleasant out of the box than RC1.
> 
> We (ER Mapper) have been very aware of the ongoing issues with
> building the SDK and are currently hunting for a silver bullet ... a
> new release candidate is due out soon with a new build system allowing
> all ECW and JPEG 2000 support (what was previously NCSEcw, NCSUtil and
> NCScnet) to be combined in either one static, or one shared library
> object (which we are referring to as libecwj2).
> 
> The new source code distribution will also ship with the standard
> example code and makefiles for building with the new single library
> structure, which should help people get to grips with the ECW JPEG
> 2000 SDK.  I have been mentioning it to people for a while now, but
> for various reasons (mainly legacy code, the introduction of static
> linkage and the need for cross-platform testing) it has not been made
> available yet.
> 
> The old build system will continue in place for the time being as
> well.  The goal is to turn building the library into a one-liner on
> Win32 and common *NIX platforms including GNU/Linux, Solaris and Mac
> OS X.
> 
> Also, yesterday it was confirmed to me that the "server software
> restriction" (which theoretically prohibited OSS projects built on the
> SDK from including server components) is being lifted from the Public
> Use License Agreement, the SDK's copyleft-restricted license.  This
> means it is now available under a license very nearly equivalent to
> the GPL.
> 
> The SDK has two other licenses for Free Use (MIT-style with a
> restriction on the maximum size of input datasets for ECW and JPEG
> 2000 compression ) and Commercial Use - these continue to include the
> "server restriction" - for the time being - for commercial reasons.
> 
> Tom.
> 
> On 6/4/05, Bill Binko <bill at binko.net> wrote:
> <snip>
> > 
> > Thanks! However, it looks like a nightmare to build!
> > 
> > I'll give it a shot
> > Bill
> 
> 
>