[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #1391: dbf driver: implicit duplicate column names

[GRASS GIS]

#1391: dbf driver: implicit duplicate column names
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 Reporter:  mmetz       |       Owner:  grass-dev@…              
     Type:  defect      |      Status:  new                      
 Priority:  normal      |   Milestone:  7.0.0                    
Component:  Database    |     Version:  svn-releasebranch64      
 Keywords:  dbf driver  |    Platform:  All                      
      Cpu:  All         |  
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 The dbf driver in lib/external/shapelib limits the length of column names
 to 10 characters. Longer names are silently truncated to 10 characters
 without checking for duplicates. The dbf driver in db/drivers/dbf limits
 the length of column names to 20 characters and passes these too long
 names to lib/external/shapelib. This limit should be changed to 10
 characters, otherwise column names longer than 10 characters with the
 first 10 characters being identical will result in identical column names
 in the dbf file. These identical column names create all sorts of
 (cryptic) problems, unfortunately without any warning or error.

 It may be necessary to add routines to create unambiguous column names, or
 at least suggest alternative names to the user, e.g. as cnames option for
 v.in.ogr. Currently, add_column() in db/drivers/dbf/column.c will fail in
 case of duplicate column names with an error message but not a fatal
 error.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/1391>
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>