[Qgis-developer] how GRASS binaries are used in Qgis?

[William Kyngesburye]

I'm pondering the idea of bundling a copy of GRASS in the Mac Qgis and would like to cut down the install size.  What are the essential parts of the GRASS installation and how is GRASS used from Qgis (for the GRASS plugin)?

- monitors - does the plugin use monitors (ie d.* commands)?  At least, I'm guessing not onscreen monitors like XDRIVER, but maybe file drivers?

- gui - probably not?

- one-shot gui stuff, like when a command is run without parameters? (or anything with gui interaction outside the full "GUI", like v.digit, r.digit, ...)  Does the plugin take care of these so that the commands are run non-interactive?

- documentation - html (looks like yes), man?

- python bindings? (not wx)

- any other specific modules not used by the plugin?


I know the path to GRASS (GISBASE) can be configured, but that's a manual process, aside from the default compiled into Qgis.  Would the plugin need some changes to dynamically set the GISBASE relative to Qgis?

I think GRASS binaries run in a separate process from Qgis (affects library linking), but I'm not sure.  ?


-----
William Kyngesburye <kyngchaos*at*kyngchaos*dot*com>
http://www.kyngchaos.com/

"I ache, therefore I am.  Or in my case - I am, therefore I ache."

- Marvin