[PROJ] PROJ 7.2.0RC2 and PROJ-data 1.3RC2

[Kristian Evers]

Jeff,

Thanks for testing the release candidates. Your testing and feedback is much appreciated!

If the way the search paths are handled is causing friction on Windows we should try to find a better way. What you’ve described below might be a good solution. As always, a good explanation of the problem, a well thought out solution and a pull request makes things happen quickly :-) But maybe first start by adding your ideas to the GitHub issue on the same topic [0]. 

/Kristian

[0] https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ/issues/2399

> On 30 Oct 2020, at 01:06, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Kristian,
> 
> Thanks for the team effort on PROJ 7.2    I have tried very hard to test both GDAL 3.2.0 and PROJ 7.2.0rc2 on Windows this week, and provide you with good feedback, which I hope is well received :
> 
> - PROJ 7.2.0RC2 builds well on Windows (MS4W build environment)
> - would you be open to enhancing the search path for the resource files, to first check the (popular and long-used) PROJ_LIB environment variable path?
> 
> Or maybe a nice enhancement is adding a new option to proj.ini such as :
> 
>  ; Writable folder to store network files, such as grid files through the CDN
>  cdn_writable_local_folder = /ttt/proj/nad
> 
> This will help prevent any access of the obscure Windows profile 'APPDATA' folder, that 99% of Windows users do not know where or how to access.  It would make managing the grid files on Windows, for both users and packagers, very easy (since we are all very familiar with decades of manipulating the PROJ_LIB environment variable path for resource files, where our software normally lives).
> 
> The projsync utility would also therefore use this new setting. (in my tests, --user-writable-directory would go searching into the depths of Windows profiles ha, and --system-directory searched a path from the build process, which users will never have yikes, of D:/build/proj-7.2.0/..)
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts on this.  I realize there are other platforms to please, but maybe other platforms would also appreciate a 'cdn_writable_local_folder' setting, or the enhanced use of PROJ_LIB. (I've noticed a few other users recently mention PROJ_LIB search process in recent tickets, so I do have hope ha)
> 
> Well at least I asked.  I think it's very important to provide feedback (you'll notice that I'm always one of the few who actually tries to use the software before releases and gives feedback).
> 
> Thanks for listening,
> 
> -jeff
> 
> 
> (thanks again to Alan for pointing to https://proj.org/resource_files.html#where-are-proj-resource-files-looked-for )
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jeff McKenna
> MapServer Consulting and Training Services
> co-founder of FOSS4G
> http://gatewaygeo.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
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