[gdal-dev] Issue (and suggested fix) compiling pdfium for GDAL

[FLOISSAC, Patrick]

Hello,
I recently had to compile gdal 3.8 with pdfium support on an AlmaLinux 8 platform and I struggled for a while with an unexpected issue that I could finally come up with.
I used the latest version of the build_linux.sh procedure provided by Even Rouault (https://github.com/rouault/pdfium_build_gdal_3_8/blob/master/build_linux.sh)

I explain below the issue and the fix.

The issue I faced:
- the build_linux.sh script clones depot_tools.git and then checkouts a specific commit (1c4052d88ac510a3db4351e52c088cac524c726c in the case of gdal 3.8). The depot_tools repo is thus now in detached head on the 1c4052d8 commit.
- Up to now, everything is completely fine and the underlying intent of this checkout (freezing the content of depot_tool) became clear to me when I compared the 1c4052d8 commit date (2023/08/16) and the date of the current build_linux.sh script (commited the following day)
- But then, the build_linux.sh script launches the two following commands : 'gclient config --unmanaged "$PDFIUM_URL"' and 'gclient sync --revision="$REV"'
- ... and these commands end with the following error: "depot_tools/update_depot_tools: line 149: goma_ctl: command not found"

After analysis, the issue comes from the fact that these gclient commands perform a change in the state of the depot_tools repo:
- before launching the gclient commands, this repo was, as said above, in detached head on the 1c4052d8 commit. In this state, the goma_ctl script exists in the depot_tools.
- after launching the gclient commands, the depo_tools repo is detached head, but at origin/main. And the goma_ctl script does not exist anymore.
- Looking to the commit history, it appears that goma_ctl was removed on 2024/04/15 (commit "remove goma CIPD package").

The fix:
I tried to find a way to avoid depot_tools to be automatically updated and I finally found that setting the following variable before launching the build_linux.sh script did the trick:
DEPOT_TOOLS_UPDATE=0

Maybe this fix could be included in the several existing compilation procedures ?
(I only used the one related to gdal 3.8 but I think that the same issue - and the same fix - might be applicable for the other versions).

Best regards,

Patrick Floissac
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