[gdal-dev] Not writing PAM files

[Javier Jimenez Shaw]

Thank you David.

Unfortunately I don't want to (a.k.a. cannot) change the original files. I
don't want to write any type of file in that directory (like the .aux.xml
files).

(note: I am opening the files in C++ with GDALOpenEx)


On Mon, 3 Nov 2025 at 14:45, David Klaus <dklaus at carlsonsw.com> wrote:

> Hi Javier,
>
> I'm not sure if this applies to your use case, but I ran into a similar
> issue embedding geolocation information in PDF files. Sidecar files were
> created, but the geolocation data wasn’t embedded directly in the PDF.
>
> At my company, we use the C++ GDAL API, and I was able to resolve it by
> opening the GDALDataset with the GDALAccess::GA_Update flag.
>
> As for whether GDAL reads sidecar files when present—I believe it does,
> but I'm not entirely certain, so I’ll defer to others on that point.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 3, 2025 at 4:13 AM Javier Jimenez Shaw via gdal-dev <
> gdal-dev at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> When I read some raster files (in particular thermal JPEG files), a side
>> car file .aux.xml appears next to it.
>>
>> I would like to avoid the creation of this side car file, but I want to
>> use any .aux.xml file if it is already there. Yes, I could imagine there is
>> a performance impact if I read it several times, but I am going to read the
>> file only once.
>>
>> The config option GDAL_PAM_ENABLED seems to be completely disabling PAM
>> functionality:
>>
>> https://gdal.org/en/stable/user/configoptions.html#persistent-auxiliary-metadata-pam-options
>> Reading the documentation, I would imagine that the PAM is completely
>> disabled, not only the creation of the side car file while reading a raster.
>>
>> Is it posible to not create the .aux.xml, but use it if present?
>>
>> Thank you
>> _______________________________________________
>> gdal-dev mailing list
>> gdal-dev at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/gdal-dev
>>
>
>
> --
> David Klaus
> Carlson Software
>
>
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