[gdal-dev] Extended tab/mrr driver questions

[Even Rouault]

Nyall,

> I just read this comment on the Pitney Bowes pull request regarding
> extended tab/mrr support:
> 
> "After discussing with the GDAL PSC, we will be splitting this into
> two separate PRs for the two drivers. We will also be following the
> plugin model for both EFAL and MRR format driver."
> (https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/pull/1882#issuecomment-563807100)
> 
> Can anyone from gdal psc elaborate on this? Why were they advised to
> follow the plugin model instead of doing the "right thing" and
> extending the existing tab driver?

For everyone understanding, I had preliminary contacts with them beginning of 
2018 about the MapInfo Extended part, when they tried to know how to get it 
into GDAL. At that time, I did suggest to them that extending MITAB would be 
the most natural thing to do, which would make MapInfo Extended "immediately" 
available to everyone using GDAL. At that time, they already floating around 
the idea of using parts of their code base. I told them this would be far less 
practical for their users, even if their SDK was open sourced (since it would 
have packaging implication). At the end, they followed the route of using 
their closed source SDK and submitted this PR mixing 2 things, and using a 
unusual model for drivers relying on SDK.
We had some email discussions with them one month ago within the GDAL PSC to 
tell them that their PR couldn't be merged as it and they should at the very 
least rework it as 2 PRs and follow the usual model, but that it would still 
require finding a reviewer keen to review them & press the merge button. That 
part is going to be problematic.

Even

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