[GRASS-dev] liblas, laslib, lastools, anaconda, and GRASS

Wed Feb 21 16:43:00 PST 2018

So here is an email chain with the conda-forge maintainers of the LAStools package about liblas in Anaconda which is not liblas, but actually laslib misnamed. This is why there is no liblas-config. Since liblas.dylib is installed with the lastools package in Anaconda, I asked if they might also create a liblas-config file (not currently installed) so that GRASS can compile against it for LiDAR support

The upshot is that LAStools (and laslib, misnamed as liblas) can be installed through Anaconda, but not the packages we know as libLAS. Also, it seems like libLAS is no longer maintained and superseded by LASlib and related tools. I have an email from William Kyngesburye (copied) from several years ago suggesting that GRASS lidar support could potentially use LASlib instead of liblas. But I don't know what that would involve.

MIchael
____________________
C. Michael Barton
Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
Professor of Anthropology, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Head, Graduate Faculty in Complex Adaptive Systems Science
Arizona State University

voice:  480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-965-8130/727-9746 (CSDC)
fax: 480-965-7671 (SHESC),  480-727-0709 (CSDC)
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton, http://csdc.asu.edu

From: Sam Gillingham <notifications at github.com<mailto:notifications at github.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 5:19:45 PM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afff3e421a9fe599968afaa891e0ddd2cfca2dc97292cf0000000116a5cea192a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5afff3e421a9fe599968afaa891e0ddd2cfca2dc97292cf0000000116a5cea192a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>

Yes. Feel free to talk to the lastools maintainer about this confusing situation...

From: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 5:08:45 PM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afb432f05c9506e1ef9f0d5fb3c795a0bc4ba02c0192cf0000000116a5bd8792a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5afb432f05c9506e1ef9f0d5fb3c795a0bc4ba02c0192cf0000000116a5bd8792a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
Cc: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>

OK. This is good to know. So the file that is named liblas.dylib in the conda package of lastools is in fact laslib?

Michael

From: Sam Gillingham <notifications at github.com<mailto:notifications at github.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 4:06:47 PM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afb432f05c9506e1ef9f0d5fb3c795a0bc4ba02c0192cf0000000116a5bd8792a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5afb432f05c9506e1ef9f0d5fb3c795a0bc4ba02c0192cf0000000116a5bd8792a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>

Yes the library file is called the same, but the contents are different. In an early version of this recipe i renamed the files to be clear, but that broke other software....

Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 2:43:46 PM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
Cc: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>

Indeed. But the anaconda package installs liblas, not laslib.

Michael

From: Daniel Clewley <notifications at github.com<mailto:notifications at github.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 11:38:55 AM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>

LASlib isn't a drop in replacement for libLAS (different function names for one thing) you'd have to modify the GRASS code if you wanted to use LASlib.

From: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 8:59:25 AM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>
Cc: Vaclav Petras <wenzeslaus at gmail.com<mailto:wenzeslaus at gmail.com>>, Eric Hutton <hutton.eric at gmail.com<mailto:hutton.eric at gmail.com>>

Thanks for the quick response Dan,

I have indeed seen both the open source libLAS code and the LAStools site. The thing is that the Anaconda package installs liblas.dylib into ../lib as well as command line tools in ../bin with the same names as the tools built with the libLAS code. A couple years ago, a colleague on the GRASS project looked into the (then new) LAStools distribution and thought that it could be a drop in replacement for libLAS code. So I was hoping to try this with the Anaconda build. But we need a liblas-config to do it. I'm copying a couple colleagues on GRASS who also might be able to help with this.

Cheers
Michael

From: Daniel Clewley <notifications at github.com<mailto:notifications at github.com>>
Subject: Re: [conda-forge/lastools-feedstock] can liblas-config be included in package (#3)
Date: February 21, 2018 at 12:27:16 AM MST
To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com<mailto:lastools-feedstock at noreply.github.com>>
Cc: Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com<mailto:c.michael.barton at gmail.com>>, Author <author at noreply.github.com<mailto:author at noreply.github.com>>
Reply-To: conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com<mailto:reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0b at reply.github.com>>

This is the feedstock for LAStools<https://github.com/LAStools/LAStools> and LASlib not libLAS<https://github.com/libLAS/libLAS> which I believe is the library GRASS can be compiled against. The libLAS website has a page explaining the relationship between the two: https://www.liblas.org/lastools.html. The two libraries provide similar functionality but aren't compatible.

From the libLAS website "As of 2014, libLAS has been almost entirely superceded by Martin Isenburg‘s LASlib library."

More specifically this feedstock builds a fork of LAStools (https://github.com/gillins/LAStools/) which adds CMake build scrips. The standard LAStools doesn't provide a liblas-config file, we could add one to the fork this is being build against but I think this would only make things between the two libraries more confusing.

I'm going to mark this as closed but if I am incorrect and it is LASlib you need please reopen for further discussion.

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