[GRASSLIST:2456] gdal and hdf

[Ian Macmillan]

Hi all, sorry to be pestering the list lately, every time I think I get it all,
I realize just how big the mountain of information is that I don't understand.

Here's my problem, I downloaded some aster dems from the EOS data gateway.  It
comes in HDF-EOS format, and obviously my r.in.gdal (version 1.1.7 I believe)
can not read it (I am running 5.0.0 on mac os 10.2.8).  I would like to be able
to import this data into GRASS, however it seems very non intuitive to a mac
user like me (I installed GRASS with the openosx cd).  I have read and reread
the mail archives and tutorials, as well as several other web sources, but I
still just don't get how I can do this.  It seems to me that I need to update
gdal to 1.1.9 (it looks like it handles hdf 4.x and hdf-eos files), and then I
should be ok, but how do I do this?  I have downloaded the binaries from
remotesensing.org. and it is sitting on my desktop staring at me.  Now what?

Can I just update gdal without having to recompile grass?
How do I update gdal?
If I need to recompile grass, how do I do that on osx?

Mucho thanks for any help you all might give,
Ian

P.S.
I also downloaded the HDFLook program as an alternative, but again, I have the
unzipped file sitting on my desktop staring at me.  If using that program is
easier to explain, feel free to let loose if someone knows how.