[PROJ] proj-data is 500MB

[Kristian Evers]

Installing proj-data only once is the intended default use case. As far as I am aware this is how
all the packaging systems that include proj-data handles this (with conda perhaps being the
exception?).

As for the rest of the discussion, it is quite difficult to do The Right Thing regarding distribution
of transformation grids. Previously when we provided smaller regional packages we got complaints
because it wasn’t bundled as one big package, now that we do just that it is also seen to be a
problem (by some users at least).

The current trend is that transformation grids become larger and is used more frequently in new
transformations, so we can reasonable expect the weight of the proj-data package to increase
in the coming years. Even if we again create regional packages they will at some point become
too big to include by default in software like QGIS. That can of course be solved by dividing the
packages into even smaller regions but that very quickly becomes a pain to maintain and package.

The dynamical downloading of grids is really the best we can do to cater to the most users. I want
to encourage everyone to incorporate the dynamic downloading option into their software,
since that will be the most flexible way of providing your users with the necessary transformation
data. I am aware that it in some cases that is difficult to achieve, Nyall Dawson has provided good
arguments for why doing so in QGIS is not as easy as one might expect. I hope that can be resolved
in the future.

/Kristian

From: PROJ <proj-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> On Behalf Of Javier Jimenez Shaw
Sent: 24. juli 2020 10:31
To: PROJ at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [PROJ] proj-data is 500MB

Just one comment: if you have several programs that use proj-data, and each one installs 500 MB, sounds like a waste of space, right?
Does it make sense to install proj-data only once?

Regards
Javier
El vie., 24 jul. 2020 10:16, Sebastiaan Couwenberg <sebastic at xs4all.nl<mailto:sebastic at xs4all.nl>> escribió:
On 7/24/20 10:00 AM, Jürgen E. Fischer wrote:
> On Fri, 24. Jul 2020 at 09:41:02 +0200, Sebastiaan Couwenberg wrote:
>> You could split up the grids per region and only depend on a subset
>> (excluding au_*, ca_*, de_* & us_* removes most of the very large grids)
>> and suggest the rest for the users to manually install when they need it.
>
> I don't want to exclude de completely - esp. because there are grids that were
> previously shipped among it.  The ridiculously large Baden-Württemberg grid
> wasn't and must be excluded.

Then perhaps split the grids by size similar to the
gmt-gshhg-{low,high,full} packages.

The gmt package in Debian only Recommends gmt-gshhg-low because of size
constraints for OSGeoLive, despite the authors wanting the full package
installed by default.

Kind Regards,

Bas

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