[Qgis-community-team] Shipping SAGA with QGIS

[Victor Olaya]

Hi all

Here is a question I want to raise up and that I think is worth discussing

The SEXTANTE-SAGA bindings are working more or less fine, and it's by
far easier to ensure they work correctly than the GRASS bindings,
since SAGA doesn't have so many "uncommon" features as GRASS and
integration is much more straightforward. For this reason, SAGA is my
first choice as the main algorithm provider in SEXTANTE. However,
still many people find confusing that you have to install SAGA
separately, and I think that should be solved.

Only with SAGA and the python algorithms, SEXTANTE would have more
than enough for 90% of all users, including advanced ones. The current
toolbox shows by default a list of algorithms divided by providers,
but there is an "easy" mode that shows just one group with categories,
and I have been working in manually classifying the available ones in
a set of homogeneos categories.

Having SAGA shipped by default with QGIS will allow to set that simple
mode by default and completely remove the need to install anything or
even know which application is computing the results (the interface
does not show any distinction between algorithms). I believe that is a
huge step in making SEXTANTE more accesible to everyone. A working
SEXTANTE that is enough for the vast majority of users would be ready
with a fresh QGIS install. The current interface would be available
for more advanced users (and with SAGA already available in it,
without having to do anything else)

Adding SAGA in windows is trivial (just unzip it and you are done),
and in linux it might be a bit more complex, but it should not be a
problem. Mac might be the biggest problem here.

I would like to know the opinion of everyone about this. From my point
of view, as I said, it will mean a great improvement.

Thanks in advance!

Victor