gdal.netcore

A simple (as is) build engine of GDAL library for .NET.

Provides a minimal setup without requirements to install heavy GDAL binaries into your system.

Packages (NuGet)

C# Bindings and runtime libraries:

MaxRev.Gdal.Universal MaxRev.Gdal.Core MaxRev.Gdal.WindowsRuntime.Minimal MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal

• MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.x64
• MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.arm64

MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal

• MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.x64
• MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.arm64

CLI Tools - GDAL command-line utilities (gdalinfo, ogr2ogr, gdal_translate, etc.)

MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.win-x64 MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-x64 MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-arm64 MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-x64 MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-arm64

Table Of Contents

• Packages (NuGet)
• Table Of Contents
• About this library
  • What is this library
  • What is not
• How to use
  • Universal package
  • Separate core and runtime packages
  • Initialize libraries in runtime
  • CLI Tools packages
• Supported runtimes
• Using GDAL functions
• Development
• How to compile on Windows
• How to compile on Unix
• About build configuration
• Building runtime libraries
• FAQ
  • Q: Packages does not work on CentOS 7, Ubuntu 18.04
  • Q: Can I compile it on Ubuntu or another Unix-based system?
  • Q: Projections are not working as expected
  • Q: Some drivers complain about missing data files
  • Q: Missing {some} drivers, can you add more?

Table of contents generated with markdown-toc

About this library

What is this library

• Only generates assemblies and binds everything into one package.
• Provides easy access to GDAL by installing only core and runtime package
• DOES NOT require installation of GDAL. From 3.7.0 version GDAL_DATA is also shipped. While it contains the proj.db database you may require proj-data grid shifts.

What is not

• Does not compile all drivers. Only configured, they are listed below. By default GDAL has a lot of internal drivers.
• Does not change GDAL source code.
• Does not extend GDAL methods.

How to use

Universal package

1. Install universal package - MaxRev.Gdal.Universal. It references all runtime packages and the core package. They will be automatically installed during restore. Note that this may increase the size of your nuget cache.

dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.Universal

Separate core and runtime packages

1. Install core package - MaxRev.Gdal.Core

dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.Core

2. Install libraries for your runtime. You can install one of them or all with no conflicts. There is no requirement to install all of them or GDAL binaries. If you work on Windows and Linux you can skip MacOS package and vice versa.

# windows supported only for x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.WindowsRuntime.Minimal 

# install linux bundle which references both arm64 and x64 binaries
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal 
# or install a specific runtime
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.arm64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.LinuxRuntime.Minimal.x64

# install macos bundle which references both arm64 and x64 binaries
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal 
# or install a specific runtime
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.arm64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.MacosRuntime.Minimal.x64

Initialize libraries in runtime

using MaxRev.Gdal.Core;
// call it once, before using GDAL
// this will initialize all GDAL drivers and set PROJ6 shared library paths
GdalBase.ConfigureAll();

4. Profit! Use it in ordinary flow. See the section below for more info.

CLI Tools packages

The CLI packages provide GDAL command-line utilities (gdalinfo, ogr2ogr, gdal_translate, etc.) that can be invoked from your .NET application. Each CLI package automatically references the corresponding runtime package. You don't have to install the runtime package separately if you are using the CLI package - it includes a package reference to the runtime nugets.

1. Install the CLI package for your target platform along with the runtime:

# Windows
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.win-x64

# Linux
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.linux-arm64

# macOS
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-x64
dotnet add package MaxRev.Gdal.CLI.osx-arm64

2. Use the GdalCli helper class (automatically included via the package):

using MaxRev.Gdal.CLI;

// GdalCli.Run calls EnsureEnvironment() automatically on module load.
// OPTIONAL - You can also call it explicitly if needed:
// GdalCli.EnsureEnvironment();

// Run a GDAL tool and capture output
var exitCode = GdalCli.Run("gdalinfo", new[] { "--version" },
    stdout: Console.Write,
    stderr: Console.Error.Write);

// Run with file arguments
var result = GdalCli.Run("ogr2ogr",
    new[] { "-f", "GeoJSON", "output.geojson", "input.shp" });

// Get the path to a GDAL tool
var toolPath = GdalCli.GetToolPath("gdalinfo");

See tests/MaxRev.Gdal.Core.Tests.CLI for more examples.

How it works

The CLI package includes two source files (GdalCli helper and PathInitializer) that are compiled directly into your project via buildTransitive targets. There is no extra assembly dependency - these become part of your application.

On startup, a [ModuleInitializer] automatically configures the process environment so the native GDAL tools can locate their shared libraries:

• Windows: prepends the native runtime directory to PATH
• Linux: prepends to LD_LIBRARY_PATH
• macOS: prepends to DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
• All platforms: sets GDAL_DATA and PROJ_LIB to the bundled data directories

When you call GdalCli.Run(...), it spawns the tool as a child process which inherits these environment variables. The initialization is idempotent - GdalCli.EnsureEnvironment() can be called explicitly but will only run once.

You can disable the automatic s