GDAL Library building/binding

[drpeterfranz (Peter Franz)]

I want to use vtkGDALRasterReader in my project. VTK is bound into my project using CMake, and I use VTK via add_subdirectory.

vtkGDARasterReader requires the GDAL library which is available from https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal

To build GDAL one needs the PROJ library, which is already in the ThirdParty directory of VTK.

Questions:

• Why is the GDAL library not included in the build tree for VTK as a submodule?
• Is there an elegant way to build GDAL via CMake, given that its PROJ dependency is already part of VTK?
• Is there an “official” CMake way to build/bind in the GDAL library?

[mwestphal (Mathieu Westphal (Kitware))]

You can take a look at how the ParaView superbuild is building GDAL: https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview-superbuild/-/blob/master/projects/gdal.cmake

[ben.boeckel (Ben Boeckel (Kitware))]

@drpeterfranz

Why is the GDAL library not included in the build tree for VTK as a submodule?

It hasn’t been requested. However, it would take time and be prioritized with other tasks.

@drpeterfranz

and I use VTK via add_subdirectory.

Please don’t. Use find_package(VTK). You’ll be happier.

@drpeterfranz

Is there an elegant way to build GDAL via CMake, given that its PROJ dependency is already part of VTK?

VTK’s proj is mangled, so you can build GDAL with its own proj (as a bonus, you can point VTK at the same proj to share it).

[drpeterfranz (Peter Franz)]

Thanks for the replies. I went with @ben.boeckel 's suggestion and built the GDAL/PROJ/SQLITE3 dependency chain outside of the project - it was in the end the easiest solution.