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

[Vaclav Petras]

On Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 7:43 PM, Michael Barton <Michael.Barton at asu.edu>
wrote:

> 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
>


Since that's the case, it doesn't seem that just liblas-config would solve
it. Daniel Clewley says "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." Perhaps simpler than changing it to
PDAL, but I'm not sure if worth it. But I haven't seen the LASlib API.



>
> 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 it seems like libLAS is no longer maintained and superseded by LASlib and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.
>


So far various people kept libLAS alive:

https://github.com/libLAS/libLAS/commits/master

But the situation is not ideal.



> 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.
>


As I said above, I dpn't know the LASlib API, but my guess is that it would
be possible, but I think the question is if somebody can work on it.

>From what I understood replacement for libLAS is PDAL, but definitively not
a drop-in one. I was not able to dedicate any time to it lately except for
accepting patch from felixg few days ago which makes v.in.pdal work with
current PDAL. Also I have been told that PDAL package for Anaconda is
coming soon (in days).

Best,
Vaclav



>
> MIchael
>
> ...
>
> *From: *Daniel Clewley <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.gi
> thub.com>
> *Cc: *Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com>, Author <
> author at noreply.github.com>
> *Reply-To: *conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5af64024b45f60988c
> 0b8f9368cac4eee6363df9a7492cf0000000116a57eb892a169ce11d01e0
> b 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>
> *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+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de
> 6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0
> b at reply.github.com>
> *Cc: *Vaclav Petras <wenzeslaus at gmail.com>, Eric Hutton <
> 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>
> *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.gi
> thub.com>
> *Cc: *Michael Barton <c.michael.barton at gmail.com>, Author <
> author at noreply.github.com>
> *Reply-To: *conda-forge/lastools-feedstock <reply+0088d5afde4903f9a76a7de
> 6418c35ec29798e65e254574992cf0000000116a4e15492a169ce11d01e0
> b 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/la
> stools.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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