Building GDAL from source

CMake (GDAL versions >= 3.5.0)

Since version 3.5.0, GDAL can be built using the CMake build system. With the CMake build system you can compile and install GDAL on more or less any platform. After unpacking the source distribution archive (or cloning the repository) step into the source tree:

cd gdal-{VERSION}

Create a build directory and step into it:

mkdir build
cd build

From the build directory you can now configure CMake, build and install the binaries:

cmake ..
cmake --build .
cmake --build . --target install

Note

For a minimal build, add these options to the initial cmake command: -DGDAL_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS=OFF -DOGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS=OFF. To enable specific drivers, add -DGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>=ON or -DOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>=ON. See Selection of drivers for more details.

Note

The --prefix /installation/prefix option of CMake (>= 3.14) is supported since GDAL 3.7.0, but note that contrary to setting the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX at configuration time, it will not result in the GDAL_DATA path to be hardcoded into the libgdal binary, and is thus not recommended. It is also not supported on Windows multi-configuration generator (such as VisualStudio).

If a dependency is installed in a custom location, specify the paths to the include directory and the library:

cmake -DSQLite3_INCLUDE_DIR=/opt/SQLite/include -DSQLite3_LIBRARY=/opt/SQLite/lib/libsqlite3.so ..

Alternatively, a custom prefix can be specified:

cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/SQLite ..

You can unset existing cached variables, by using the -U switch of cmake, for example with wildcards:

cmake .. -UGDAL_USE_*

You can assemble dependency settings in a file ConfigUser.cmake and use it with the -C option. The file contains set() commands that use the CACHE option. You can set for example a different name for the shared lib, e.g. set (GDAL_LIB_OUTPUT_NAME gdal_x64 CACHE STRING "" FORCE):

cmake .. -C ConfigUser.cmake

Warning

When iterating to configure GDAL to add/modify/remove dependencies, some cache variables can remain in CMakeCache.txt from previous runs, and conflict with new settings. If strange errors appear during cmake run, you may try removing CMakeCache.txt to start from a clean state.

Refer to Using GDAL in CMake projects for how to use GDAL in a CMake project.

Building on Windows

On Windows, one may need to specify generator:

cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017" ..

Building on MacOS

On MacOS, there are a couple of libraries that do not function properly when the GDAL build requirements are installed using Homebrew.

The Apache Arrow library included in the current distribution of Homebrew is broken, and causes a detection issue. In order to build GDAL successfully, configure CMake to not find the Arrow package:

cmake -DCMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_Arrow=ON ..

Similarly, recent versions of Homebrew no longer bundle Boost with libkml, causing a failure to find Boost headers. You should either install Boost manually or disable libkml when building on MacOS:

cmake -DGDAL_USE_LIBKML=OFF ..

CMake general configure options

Options to configure a CMake are provided using -D<var>=<value>. All cached entries can be viewed using cmake -LAH from a build directory.

BUILD_APPS=ON: Build applications. Default is ON.

BUILD_SHARED_LIBS: Build GDAL library shared. Default is ON. See also the CMake documentation for BUILD_SHARED_LIBS.

CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE: Choose the type of build, options are: None (default), Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, or MinSizeRel. See also the CMake documentation for CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE.

Note

A default build is not optimized without specifying -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release (or similar) during configuration, or by specifying --config Release with CMake multi-configuration build tools (see example below).

CMAKE_C_COMPILER: C compiler. Ignored for some generators, such as Visual Studio.

CMAKE_C_FLAGS: Flags used by the C compiler during all build types. This is initialized by the CFLAGS environment variable.

CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER: C++ compiler. Ignored for some generators, such as Visual Studio.

CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS: Flags used by the C++ compiler during all build types. This is initialized by the CXXFLAGS environment variable.

CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX: Where to install the software. Default for Unix-like is /usr/local/.

CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH

List of directories specifying installation prefixes to be searched when external dependencies are looked for.

Starting with CMake 3.12, it is also possible to use a <Packagename>_ROOT variable to define the prefix for a particular package. See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/release/3.12.html?highlight=root#commands

CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD=OFF: New in version 3.9.

Default is OFF. This can be set to ON to build GDAL using the https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/variable/CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD.html feature. This helps speeding GDAL build times. This feature is still considered experimental for now, and could hide subtle bugs (we are not aware of any at writing time though). We don't recommend it for mission critical builds.

ENABLE_IPO=OFF: Build library using the compiler's interprocedural optimization (IPO), if available, default OFF.

GDAL_SET_INSTALL_RELATIVE_RPATH=OFF: Set to ON so that the rpath of installed binaries is written as a relative path to the library. This option overrides the CMAKE_INSTALL_RPATH variable, and assumes that the CMAKE_SKIP_INSTALL_RPATH variable is not set.

CMake package dependent options

Generally speaking, packages (external dependencies) will be automatically found if they are in default locations used by CMake. This can be also tuned for example with the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable.

Starting with CMake 3.12, it is also possible to use a <Packagename>_ROOT variable to define the prefix for a particular package. See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/release/3.12.html?highlight=root#commands Note that the case of the package name matters for the _ROOT, _INCLUDE_DIR and _LIBRARY variables.

Most dependencies that would be found can also be disabled by setting the following option:

GDAL_USE_<Packagename_in_upper_case>:BOOL=ON/OFF: Control whether a found dependency can be used for the GDAL build.

It is also possible to ask GDAL to disable the use of any external dependency (besides the required one, PROJ) by default by setting the following option to OFF. Individual libraries shall then be enabled explicitly with GDAL_USE_<Packagename_in_upper_case>:BOOL=ON.

GDAL_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Defaults to ON. When set to OFF, all external dependencies (but mandatory ones) will be disabled, unless individually enabled with GDAL_USE_<Packagename_in_upper_case>:BOOL=ON. This option should be set before CMakeCache.txt is created. If it is set to OFF after CMakeCache.txt is created, then cmake should be reinvoked with "-UGDAL_USE_*" to cancel the activation of previously detected libraries.

Some of the GDAL dependencies (GEOTIFF, GIF, JPEG, JSONC, LERC, OPENCAD, PNG, QHULL, TIFF, ZLIB) have a copy of their source code inside the GDAL source code tree. It is possible to enable this internal copy by setting the GDAL_USE_<Packagename_in_upper_case>_INTERNAL:BOOL=ON variable. When set, this has precedence over the external library that may be detected. The behavior can also be globally controlled with the following variable:

GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS=ON/OFF/WHEN_NO_EXTERNAL: Control how internal libraries should be used. If set to ON, they will always be used. If set to OFF, they will never be used (unless individually enabled with GDAL_USE_<Packagename_in_upper_case>_INTERNAL:BOOL=ON) If set to WHEN_NO_EXTERNAL (default value), they will be used only if no corresponding external library is found and enabled. This option should be set before CMakeCache.txt is created.

Note

Using together GDAL_USE_EXTERNAL_LIBS=OFF and GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS=OFF will result in a CMake configuration failure, because the following libraries (either as external dependencies or using the internal copy) are at least required: ZLIB, TIFF, GEOTIFF and JSONC. Enabling them as external or internal libraries is thus required.

Archive

libarchive is a library that supports a variety of archive and compression formats. It might be used since GDAL 3.7 to enable the /vsi7z/ virtual file system.

ARCHIVE_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the archive.h header file.

ARCHIVE_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_ARCHIVE=ON/OFF: Control whether to use libarchive. Defaults to ON when libarchive is found.

Armadillo

The Armadillo C++ library is used to speed up computations related to the Thin Plate Spline transformer. See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindArmadillo.html for details. On Windows builds using Conda-Forge dependencies, the following packages may also need to be installed: blas blas-devel libblas libcblas liblapack liblapacke

GDAL_USE_ARMADILLO=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Armadillo. Defaults to ON when Armadillo is found.

Arrow

The Apache Arrow C++ <https://github.com/apache/arrow/tree/master/cpp> library is required for the (Geo)Arrow IPC File Format / Stream and (Geo)Parquet drivers. Specify install prefix in the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable.

GDAL_USE_ARROW=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Arrow. Defaults to ON when Arrow is found.

ARROW_USE_STATIC_LIBRARIES=ON/OFF: Control whether to use statically built Arrow libraries. Defaults to OFF when Arrow is found.

basisu

The Basis Universal <https://github.com/rouault/basis_universal/tree/cmake> library is required for the BASISU -- Basis Universal and KTX2 drivers. Specify install prefix in the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable or basisu_ROOT variable.

GDAL_USE_BASISU=ON/OFF: Control whether to use basisu. Defaults to ON when basisu is found.

Blosc

Blosc is a library which offers a meta-compression, with different backends (LZ4, Snappy, Zlib, Zstd, etc.). It is used by the Zarr driver.

BLOSC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the blosc.h header file.

BLOSC_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_BLOSC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Blosc. Defaults to ON when Blosc is found.

BRUNSLI

The Brunsli JPEG repacking library, used by the MRF -- Meta Raster Format driver.

BRUNSLI_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the brunsli/decode.h and brunsli\encode.h header files.

BRUNSLI_ENC_LIB: Path to the brunslienc-c library file.

BRUNSLI_DEC_LIB: Path to the brunslidec-c library file.

GDAL_USE_BRUNSLI=ON/OFF: Control whether to use BRUNSLI. Defaults to ON when Brunsli is found.

CFITSIO

The C FITS I/O library is required for the FITS -- Flexible Image Transport System driver. It can be detected with pkg-config.

CFITSIO_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the fitsio.h header file.

CFITSIO_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_CFITSIO=ON/OFF: Control whether to use CFITSIO. Defaults to ON when CFITSIO is found.

Crnlib

Crnlib / crunch is required for the DDS -- DirectDraw Surface driver.

Crnlib_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to Crnlib include directory with crunch/crnlib.h header.

Crnlib_LIBRARY: Path to Crnlib library to be linked.

GDAL_USE_CRNLIB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Crnlib. Defaults to ON when Crnlib is found.

CURL

libcurl is required for all network accesses (HTTP, etc.).

CURL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the curl directory.

CURL_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file, such as libcurl.so, libcurl.lib, or other name.

CURL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON/OFF: New in version 3.7.1.

Must be set to ON when linking against a static build of Curl.

GDAL_USE_CURL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Curl. Defaults to ON when Curl is found.

CryptoPP

The Crypto++ library can be used for the RSA SHA256 signing functionality used by some authentication methods of Google Cloud. It might be required to use the EEDAI - Google Earth Engine Data API Image images or use the /vsigs/ virtual file system. It is also required for the /vsicrypt/ virtual file system.

CRYPTOPP_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the base include directory.

CRYPTOPP_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable CRYPTOPP_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

CRYPTOPP_USE_ONLY_CRYPTODLL_ALG=ON/OFF: Defaults to OFF. Might be required to set to ON when linking against cryptopp.dll

GDAL_USE_CRYPTOPP=ON/OFF: Control whether to use CryptoPP. Defaults to ON when CryptoPP is found.

Deflate

libdeflate is a compression library which offers the lossless Deflate/Zip compression algorithm. It offers faster performance than ZLib, but is not a full replacement for it, consequently it must be used as a complement to ZLib.

Deflate_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libdeflate.h header file.

Deflate_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable Deflate_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_DEFLATE=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Deflate. Defaults to ON when Deflate is found.

ECW

The Hexagon ECW SDK (closed source/proprietary) is required for the ECW -- Enhanced Compressed Wavelets (.ecw) driver. Currently only support for ECW SDK 3.3 and 5.5 is offered.

For ECW SDK 5.5, ECW_ROOT or CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to the directory into which there are include and lib subdirectories, typically ending with ERDAS-ECW_JPEG_2000_SDK-5.5.0/Desktop_Read-Only.

ECW_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the include directory with the NCSECWClient.h header file.

ECW_LIBRARY: Path to library file libNCSEcw

ECWnet_LIBRARY: Path to library file libNCSCnet (only needed for SDK 3.3)

ECWC_LIBRARY: Path to library file libNCSEcwC (only needed for SDK 3.3)

NCSUtil_LIBRARY: Path to library file libNCSUtil (only needed for SDK 3.3)

GDAL_USE_ECW=ON/OFF: Control whether to use ECW. Defaults to ON when ECW is found.

EXPAT

Expat is a stream-oriented XML parser library which is required to enable XML parsing capabilities in an important number of OGR drivers (GML, GeoRSS, GPX, KML, LVBAG, OSM, ODS, SVG, WFS, XSLX, etc.). It is strongly recommended. Other driver such as ILI or GMLAS may also require the XercesC library.

EXPAT_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the include directory with the expat.h header file.

EXPAT_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

EXPAT_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON/OFF: New in version 3.7.1.

Must be set to ON when linking against a static build of Expat.

GDAL_USE_EXPAT=ON/OFF: Control whether to use EXPAT. Defaults to ON when EXPAT is found.

FileGDB

The FileGDB SDK (closed source/proprietary) is required for the ESRI File Geodatabase (FileGDB) driver (not to be confused with the ESRI File Geodatabase vector (OpenFileGDB) driver that has no external requirements)

FileGDB_ROOT or CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to the directory of the SDK.

FileGDB_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the include directory with the FileGDBAPI.h header file.

FileGDB_LIBRARY: Path to library file

FileGDB_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to Release library file (only used on Windows)

FileGDB_LIBRARY_DEBUG: Path to Debug library file (only used on Windows)

GDAL_USE_FILEGDB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use FileGDB. Defaults to ON when FileGDB is found.

FreeXL

The FreeXL library is required for the XLS - MS Excel format driver.

FREEXL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the freexl.h header file.

FREEXL_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_FREEXL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use FreeXL. Defaults to ON when FreeXL is found.

FYBA

The OpenFyba libraries are needed to build the Norwegian SOSI Standard driver.

FYBA_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the fyba.h header file.

FYBA_FYBA_LIBRARY: Path to a library file fyba

FYBA_FYGM_LIBRARY: Path to a library file fygm

FYBA_FYUT_LIBRARY: Path to a library file fyut

GDAL_USE_FYBA=ON/OFF: Control whether to use FYBA. Defaults to ON when FYBA is found.

GEOTIFF

It is required for the GTiff -- GeoTIFF File Format drivers, and a few other drivers. If not found, an internal copy of libgeotiff can be used.

GEOTIFF_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libgeotiff header files.

GEOTIFF_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file, such as libgeotiff.so, geotiff.lib, or other name. A similar variable GEOTIFF_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_GEOTIFF=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external libgeotiff. Defaults to ON when external libgeotiff is found.

GDAL_USE_GEOTIFF_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libgeotiff copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_GEOTIFF=ON

GEOS

GEOS is a C++ library for performing operations on two-dimensional vector geometries. It is used as the backend for most geometry processing operations available in OGR (intersection, buffer, etc.). The geos-config program can be used to detect it.

GEOS_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the geos_c.h header file.

GEOS_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file (libgeos_c).

GDAL_USE_GEOS=ON/OFF: Control whether to use GEOS. Defaults to ON when GEOS is found.

GIF

giflib is required for the GIF -- Graphics Interchange Format driver. If not found, an internal copy can be used.

GIF_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the gif_lib.h header file.

GIF_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_GIF=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external giflib. Defaults to ON when external giflib is found.

GDAL_USE_GIF_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal giflib copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_GIF=ON

GTA

The GTA library is required for the GTA - Generic Tagged Arrays driver.

GTA_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the gta/gta.h header file.

GTA_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_GTA=ON/OFF: Control whether to use GTA. Defaults to ON when GTA is found.

HEIF

The HEIF (>= 1.1) library used by the HEIF / HEIC -- ISO/IEC 23008-12:2017 High Efficiency Image File Format driver. It can be detected with pkg-config.

HEIF_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libheif/heif.h header file.

HEIF_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_HEIF=ON/OFF: Control whether to use HEIF. Defaults to ON when HEIF is found.

HDF4

The HDF4 C library is needed for the HDF4 -- Hierarchical Data Format Release 4 (HDF4) driver.

HDF4_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the hdf.h header file.

HDF4_df_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static dfalt or df library file. A similar variable HDF4_df_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

HDF4_mfhdf_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static mfhdfalt or mfhdf library file. A similar variable HDF4_mfhdf_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

HDF4_xdr_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static xdr library file. A similar variable HDF4_xdr_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases. It is generally not needed for Linux builds

HDF4_szip_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static szip library file. A similar variable HDF4_szip_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases. It is generally not needed for Linux builds

HDF4_COMPONENTS: The value of this option is a list which defaults to df;mfhdf;xdr;szip. It may be customized if the linking of HDF4 require different libraries, in which case HDF4_{comp_name}_LIBRARY_[RELEASE/DEBUG] variables will be available to configure the library file.

GDAL_USE_HDF4=ON/OFF: Control whether to use HDF4. Defaults to ON when HDF4 is found.

HDF5

The HDF5 C library is needed for the HDF5 -- Hierarchical Data Format Release 5 (HDF5) and BAG -- Bathymetry Attributed Grid drivers. The HDF5 CXX library is needed for the KEA driver. The https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindHDF5.html module is used to detect the HDF5 library.

GDAL_USE_HDF5=ON/OFF: Control whether to use HDF5. Defaults to ON when HDF5 is found.

GDAL_ENABLE_HDF5_GLOBAL_LOCK=ON/OFF: Control whether to add a global lock around calls to HDF5 library. This is needed if the HDF5 library is not built with thread-safety enabled and if the HDF5 driver is used in a multi-threaded way. On Unix, a heuristics try to detect if the HDF5 library has been built with thread-safety enabled when linking against a HDF5 library. In other situations, the setting must be manually set when needed.

HDFS

The Hadoop File System native library is needed for the /vsihdfs/ virtual file system.

HDFS_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the hdfs.h header file.

HDFS_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static hdfs library file.

GDAL_USE_HDFS=ON/OFF: Control whether to use HDFS. Defaults to ON when HDFS is found.

Iconv

The Iconv library is used to convert text from one encoding to another encoding. It is generally available as a system library for Unix-like systems. On Windows, GDAL can leverage the API of the operating system for a few base conversions, but using Iconv will provide additional capabilities.

Iconv_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the iconv.h header file.

Iconv_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_ICONV=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Iconv. Defaults to ON when Iconv is found.

IDB

The Informix DataBase Client SDK (closed source/proprietary) is needed to build the IDB driver. IDB_ROOT or CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to the directory of the SDK.

IDB_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory (typically ending with incl) with the c++/it.h header file.

IDB_IFCPP_LIBRARY: Path to a library file ifc++ (typically in the lib/c++ sub directory)

IDB_IFDMI_LIBRARY: Path to a library file ifdmi (typically in the lib/dmi sub directory)

IDB_IFSQL_LIBRARY: Path to a library file ifsql (typically in the lib/esql sub directory)

IDB_IFCLI_LIBRARY: Path to a library file ifcli (typically in the lib/cli sub directory)

GDAL_USE_IDB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use IDB. Defaults to ON when IDB is found.

JPEG

libjpeg is required for the JPEG -- JPEG JFIF File Format driver, and may be used by a few other drivers (GPKG -- GeoPackage raster, MRF -- Meta Raster Format, internal libtiff, etc.) If not found, an internal copy of libjpeg (6b) can be used. Using libjpeg-turbo is highly recommended to get best performance. See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindJPEG.html for more details on how the library is detected.

Note

When using libjpeg-turbo, JPEG_LIBRARY[_RELEASE/_DEBUG] should point to a library with libjpeg ABI, not TurboJPEG. See https://libjpeg-turbo.org/About/TurboJPEG for the difference.

JPEG_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the jpeglib.h header file.

JPEG_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable JPEG_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_JPEG=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external libjpeg. Defaults to ON when external libjpeg is found.

GDAL_USE_JPEG_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libjpeg copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_JPEG=ON

EXPECTED_JPEG_LIB_VERSION=number: Used with external libjpeg. number is for example 80, for libjpeg 8 ABI. This can be used to check a build time that the expected JPEG library is the one that is included by GDAL.

JPEG12

libjpeg-12 bit can be used by the JPEG -- JPEG JFIF File Format, GTiff -- GeoTIFF File Format (when using internal libtiff), JPEG -- JPEG JFIF File Format, MRF -- Meta Raster Format and NITF -- National Imagery Transmission Format drivers to handle JPEG images with a 12 bit depth. It is only supported with the internal libjpeg (6b). This can be used independently of if for regular 8 bit JPEG an external or internal libjpeg is used.

GDAL_USE_JPEG12_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libjpeg-12 copy. Defaults to ON.

Note

Starting with GDAL 3.7, if using libjpeg-turbo >= 2.2, which adds native support for dual 8/12-bit, using internal libjpeg-12 is no longer needed to get 12-bit JPEG support in the JPEG, MRF, NITF or GeoTIFF (when built with internal libtiff) drivers. If using external libtiff, libtiff >= 4.5 built against libjpeg-turbo >= 2.2 is needed to get 12-bit JPEG support in the GeoTIFF support.

JSON-C

The json-c library is required to read and write JSON content. It can be detected with pkg-config. If not found, an internal copy of json-c can be used.

JSONC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the json.h header file.

JSONC_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_JSONC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use JSON-C. Defaults to ON when JSON-C is found.

GDAL_USE_JSONC_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal JSON-C copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_JSONC=ON

JXL

The libjxl <https://github.com/libjxl/libjxl> library used by the GTiff -- GeoTIFF File Format driver, when built against internal libtiff. It can be detected with pkg-config.

JXL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the jxl/decode.h header file.

JXL_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_JXL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use JXL. Defaults to ON when JXL is found.

KDU

The Kakadu library (proprietary) is required for the JP2KAK -- JPEG-2000 (based on Kakadu) and JPIPKAK - JPIP Streaming drivers. There is no standardized installation layout, nor fixed library file names, so finding Kakadu artifacts is a bit challenging. Currently automatic finding of it from the KDU_ROOT variable is only implemented for Linux, Mac and Windows x86_64 builds. For other platforms, users need to manually specify the KDU_LIBRARY and KDU_AUX_LIBRARY variable.

KDU_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the root of the Kakadu build tree, from which the coresys/common/kdu_elementary.h header file should be found.

KDU_LIBRARY: Path to a shared library file whose name is like libkdu_vXYR.so on Unix or kdu_vXYR.lib on Windows, where X.Y is the Kakadu version.

KDU_AUX_LIBRARY: Path to a shared library file whose name is like libkdu_aXYR.so on Unix or kdu_aXYR.lib on Windows, where X.Y is the Kakadu version.

GDAL_USE_KDU=ON/OFF: Control whether to use KDU. Defaults to ON when KDU is found.

KEA

The KEA library is required for the KEA driver. The HDF5 CXX library is also required.

KEA_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libkea/KEACommon.h header file.

KEA_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_KEA=ON/OFF: Control whether to use KEA. Defaults to ON when KEA is found.

LERC

LERC is an open-source image or raster format which supports rapid encoding and decoding for any pixel type (not just RGB or Byte). Users set the maximum compression error per pixel while encoding, so the precision of the original input image is preserved (within user defined error bounds).

LERC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the Lerc_c_api.h header file.

LERC_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_LERC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LERC. Defaults to ON when LERC is found.

GDAL_USE_LERC_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use the LERC internal library. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_LERC=ON

LIBAEC

libaec is a compression library which offers the extended Golomb-Rice coding as defined in the CCSDS recommended standard 121.0-B-3. It is used by the GRIB -- WMO General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary form driver.

LIBAEC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libaec.h header file.

LIBAEC_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_LIBAEC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LIBAEC. Defaults to ON when LIBAEC is found.

LibKML

LibKML is required for the LIBKML Driver (.kml .kmz) driver. It can be detected with pkg-config.

LIBKML_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the base include directory.

LIBKML_BASE_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file for kmlbase

LIBKML_DOM_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file for kmldom

LIBKML_ENGINE_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file for kmlengine

LIBKML_MINIZIP_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file for minizip

LIBKML_URIPARSER_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file for uriparser

GDAL_USE_LIBKML=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LibKML. Defaults to ON when LibKML is found.

LibLZMA

LibLZMA is a compression library which offers the lossless LZMA2 compression algorithm. It is used by the internal libtiff library or the Zarr driver.

LIBLZMA_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the lzma.h header file.

LIBLZMA_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_LIBLZMA=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LibLZMA. Defaults to ON when LibLZMA is found.

LibQB3

The QB3 compression, used by the MRF -- Meta Raster Format driver.

GDAL_USE_LIBQB3=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LibQB3. Defaults to ON when LibQB3 is found.

LibXml2

The LibXml2 processing library is used to do validation of XML files against a XML Schema (.xsd) in a few drivers (PDF, GMLAS, GML OGR VRT) and for advanced capabilities in GMLJP2v2 generation.

LIBXML2_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the base include directory.

LIBXML2_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_LIBXML2=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LibXml2. Defaults to ON when LibXml2 is found.

LURATECH

The Luratech JPEG2000 SDK (closed source/proprietary) is required for the JP2Lura -- JPEG2000 driver based on Lurawave library driver.

LURATECH_ROOT or CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to the directory of the SDK.

LURATECH_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the include directory with the lwf_jp2.h header file.

LURATECH_LIBRARY: Path to library file lib_lwf_jp2.a / lwf_jp2.lib

GDAL_USE_LURATECH=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LURATECH. Defaults to ON when LURATECH is found.

LZ4

LZ4 is a compression library which offers the lossless LZ4 compression algorithm. It is used by the Zarr driver.

LZ4_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the lz4.h header file.

LZ4_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable LZ4_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_LZ4=ON/OFF: Control whether to use LZ4. Defaults to ON when LZ4 is found.

MONGOCXX

The MongoCXX and BsonCXX libraries are needed to build the MongoDBv3 driver. They can be detected with pkg-config.

MONGOCXX_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the mongocxx/client.hpp header file.

BSONCXX_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the bsoncxx/config/version.hpp header file.

MONGOCXX_LIBRARY: Path to a library file mongocxx

BSONCXX_LIBRARY: Path to a library file bsoncxx

GDAL_USE_MONGOCXX=ON/OFF: Control whether to use MONGOCXX. Defaults to ON when MONGOCXX is found.

MRSID

The MRSID Raster DSDK (closed source/proprietary) is required for the MrSID -- Multi-resolution Seamless Image Database driver.

MRSID_ROOT or CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH should point to the directory of the SDK ending with Raster_DSDK. Note that on Linux, its lib subdirectory should be in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH so that the linking of applications succeeds and libtbb.so can be found.

MRSID_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the include directory with the lt_base.h header file.

MRSID_LIBRARY: Path to library file libltidsdk

GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_JP2MRSID: Whether to enable JPEG2000 support through the MrSID SDK. The default value of this option is OFF.

GDAL_USE_MRSID=ON/OFF: Control whether to use MRSID. Defaults to ON when MRSID is found.

MSSQL_NCLI

The Microsoft SQL Native Client Library (closed source/proprietary) is required to enable bulk copy in the MSSQLSpatial - Microsoft SQL Server Spatial Database driver. If both MSSQL_NCLI and MSSQL_ODBC are found and enabled, MSSQL_ODBC will be used. The library is normally found if installed in standard location, and at version 11.

MSSQL_NCLI_VERSION: Major version of the Native Client, typically 11

MSSQL_NCLI_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to include directory with sqlncli.h header.

MSSQL_NCLI_LIBRARY: Path to library to be linked.

GDAL_USE_MSSQL_NCLI=ON/OFF: Control whether to use MSSQL_NCLI. Defaults to ON when MSSQL_NCLI is found.

MSSQL_ODBC

The Microsoft SQL Native ODBC driver Library (closed source/proprietary) is required to enable bulk copy in the MSSQLSpatial - Microsoft SQL Server Spatial Database driver. If both MSSQL_NCLI and MSSQL_ODBC are found and enabled, MSSQL_ODBC will be used. The library is normally found if installed in standard location, and at version 17.

MSSQL_ODBC_VERSION: Major version of the Native Client, typically 17

MSSQL_ODBC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to include directory with msodbcsql.h header.

MSSQL_ODBC_LIBRARY: Path to library to be linked.

GDAL_USE_MSSQL_ODBC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use MSSQL_ODBC. Defaults to ON when MSSQL_ODBC is found.

MYSQL

The MySQL or MariaDB client library is required to enable the MySQL driver.

MYSQL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to include directory with mysql.h header file.

MYSQL_LIBRARY: Path to library to be linked.

GDAL_USE_MYSQL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use MYSQL. Defaults to ON when MYSQL is found.

NetCDF

The netCDF is required to enable the NetCDF: Network Common Data Form driver. The nc-config program can be used to detect it.

NETCDF_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the netcdf.h header file.

NETCDF_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_NETCDF=ON/OFF: Control whether to use netCDF. Defaults to ON when netCDF is found.

ODBC

ODBC is required for various drivers: ODBC RDBMS, ESRI Personal GeoDatabase, SAP HANA and MSSQLSpatial - Microsoft SQL Server Spatial Database. It is normally automatically found in system directories on Unix and Windows.

ODBC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to ODBC include directory with sql.h header.

ODBC_LIBRARY: Path to ODBC library to be linked.

GDAL_USE_ODBC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use ODBC. Defaults to ON when ODBC is found.

ODBC-CPP

The odbc-cpp-wrapper library is required for the SAP HANA driver.

ODBCCPP_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the odbc/Environment.h header file.

ODBCCPP_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_ODBCCPP=ON/OFF: Control whether to use ODBC-CPP. Defaults to ON when ODBC-CPP is found.

OGDI

The OGDI library is required for the OGDI Vectors driver. It can be detected with pkg-config.

OGDI_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the ecs.h header file.

OGDI_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_OGDI=ON/OFF: Control whether to use OGDI. Defaults to ON when OGDI is found.

OpenCAD

libopencad is required for the CAD -- AutoCAD DWG driver. If not found, an internal copy can be used.

OPENCAD_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the opencad.h header file.

OPENCAD_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_OPENCAD=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external libopencad. Defaults to ON when external libopencad is found.

GDAL_USE_OPENCAD_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libopencad copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_OPENCAD=ON

OpenCL

The OpenCL library may be used to accelerate warping computations, typically with a GPU.

Note

(GDAL 3.5 and 3.6) It is disabled by default even when detected, since the current OpenCL warping implementation lags behind the generic implementation. Starting with GDAL 3.7, build support is enabled by default when OpenCL is detected, but it is disabled by default at runtime. The warping option USE_OPENCL or the configuration option GDAL_USE_OPENCL must be set to YES to enable it.

OpenCL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the CL/cl.h header file.

OpenCL_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_OPENCL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use OPENCL. Defaults to OFF when OPENCL is found.

OpenEXR

OpenEXR is required for the EXR -- Extended Dynamic Range Image File Format driver

Specify OpenEXR_ROOT variable pointing to the parent directory of /lib and /include subdirectories, i.e. /DEV/lib/openexr-3.0. For OpenEXR >= 3 additionally specify Imath_ROOT as this is a separate library now, i.e. /DEV/lib/imath-3.1.3

or

Specify root directory adding to the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable to find OpenEXR's pkgconfig. For example -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/DEV/lib/openexr-3.0;/DEV/lib/imath-3.1.3

or

Get real specific and set OpenEXR_INCLUDE_DIR, Imath_INCLUDE_DIR, OpenEXR_LIBRARY, OpenEXR_UTIL_LIBRARY, OpenEXR_HALF_LIBRARY, OpenEXR_IEX_LIBRARY explicitly

GDAL_USE_OPENEXR=ON/OFF: Control whether to use OpenEXR. Defaults to ON when OpenEXR is found.

OpenJPEG

The OpenJPEG library is an open-source JPEG-2000 codec written in C language. It is required for the JP2OpenJPEG -- JPEG2000 driver based on OpenJPEG library driver, or other drivers that use JPEG-2000 functionality.

OPENJPEG_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the openjpeg.h header file.

OPENJPEG_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_OPENJPEG=ON/OFF: Control whether to use OpenJPEG. Defaults to ON when OpenJPEG is found.

GDAL_FIND_PACKAGE_OpenJPEG_MODE=MODULE/CONFIG/empty string: New in version 3.9.

Control the mode used for find_package(OpenJPEG). Defaults to MODULE for compatibility with OpenJPEG < 2.5.1. If set to CONFIG, only Config mode search is attempted. If set to empty string, default CMake logic (https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/find_package.html) applies.

OpenSSL

The Crypto component of the OpenSSL library can be used for the RSA SHA256 signing functionality used by some authentication methods of Google Cloud. It might be required to use the EEDAI - Google Earth Engine Data API Image images or use the /vsigs/ virtual file system.

See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindOpenSSL.html for details on how to configure the library. For static linking, the following options may be needed: -DOPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=TRUE -DOPENSSL_MSVC_STATIC_RT=TRUE

GDAL_USE_OPENSSL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use OpenSSL. Defaults to ON when OpenSSL is found.

Oracle

The Oracle Instant Client SDK (closed source/proprietary) is required for the Oracle Spatial and the Oracle Spatial GeoRaster drivers

Oracle_ROOT: Path to the root directory of the Oracle Instant Client SDK

GDAL_USE_ORACLE=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Oracle. Defaults to ON when Oracle is found.

Parquet

The Parquet component of the Apache Arrow C++ <https://github.com/apache/arrow/tree/master/cpp> library is required for the (Geo)Parquet driver. Specify install prefix in the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable.

GDAL_USE_PARQUET=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Parquet. Defaults to ON when Parquet is found.

ARROW_USE_STATIC_LIBRARIES=ON/OFF: Control whether to use statically built Arrow libraries. Defaults to OFF when Parquet is found.

PCRE2

PCRE2 implements Perl-compatible Regular Expressions support. It is used for the REGEXP operator in drivers using SQLite3.

PCRE2_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the pcre2.h header file.

PCRE2_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file with "pcre2-8" in its name

GDAL_USE_PCRE2=ON/OFF: Control whether to use PCRE2. Defaults to ON when PCRE2 is found.

PDFIUM

The PDFium library is one of the possible backends for the PDF -- Geospatial PDF driver.

PDFIUM_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the public/fpdfview.h header file.

PDFIUM_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_PDFIUM=ON/OFF: Control whether to use PDFIUM. Defaults to ON when PDFIUM is found.

PNG

libpng is required for the PNG -- Portable Network Graphics driver, and may be used by a few other drivers (GRIB -- WMO General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary form, GPKG -- GeoPackage raster, etc.) If not found, an internal copy of libpng can be used. See https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindPNG.html for more details on how the library is detected.

PNG_PNG_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the png.h header file.

PNG_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable PNG_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_PNG=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external libpng. Defaults to ON when external libpng is found.

GDAL_USE_PNG_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libpng copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_PNG=ON

Poppler

The Poppler library is one of the possible backends for the PDF -- Geospatial PDF driver.

Note that GDAL requires Poppler private headers, that are only installed if configuring Poppler with -DENABLE_UNSTABLE_API_ABI_HEADERS.

Poppler_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the poppler-config.h header file.

Poppler_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_POPPLER=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Poppler. Defaults to ON when Poppler is found.

PostgreSQL

The PostgreSQL client library is required for the PostgreSQL / PostGIS and PostGISRaster -- PostGIS Raster driver drivers.

PostgreSQL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libpq-fe.h header file.

PostgreSQL_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file pq / libpq. A similar variable PostgreSQL_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_POSTGRESQL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use PostgreSQL. Defaults to ON when PostgreSQL is found.

PROJ

PROJ >= 6.3 is a required dependency for GDAL.

PROJ_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the proj.h header file.

PROJ_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file, such as libproj.so, proj.lib, or other name. A similar variable PROJ_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_FIND_PACKAGE_PROJ_MODE=CUSTOM/MODULE/CONFIG/empty string: New in version 3.9.

Control the mode used for find_package(PROJ). Alters how the default CMake search logic (https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/find_package.html) applies. Defaults to CUSTOM, where the CONFIG mode is applied for PROJ >= 8, and fallbacks to default MODULE mode otherwise. Other values are passed directly to find_package()

QHULL

The QHULL library is used for the linear interpolation of gdal_grid. If not found, an internal copy can be used.

QHULL_PACKAGE_NAME: Name of the pkg-config package, typically qhull_r or qhullstatic_r. Defaults to qhull_r

QHULL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the libqhull_r/libqhull_r.h header file.

QHULL_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file to the reentrant library.

GDAL_USE_QHULL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use QHULL. Defaults to ON when QHULL is found.

GDAL_USE_QHULL_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal QHULL copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_QHULL=ON

RASTERLITE2

The RasterLite2 (>= 1.1.0) library used by the RasterLite2 - Rasters in SQLite DB driver. It can be detected with pkg-config.

RASTERLITE2_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the rasterlite2/rasterlite2.h header file.

RASTERLITE2_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_RASTERLITE2=ON/OFF: Control whether to use RasterLite2. Defaults to ON when RasterLite2 is found.

rdb

The RDB <https://repository.riegl.com/software/libraries/rdblib> (closed source/proprietary) library is required for the RDB - RIEGL Database driver. Specify install prefix in the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable.

GDAL_USE_RDB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use rdb. Defaults to ON when rdb is found.

SPATIALITE

The Spatialite library used by the SQLite / Spatialite RDBMS and GPKG -- GeoPackage vector drivers, and the SQL SQLite dialect. It can be detected with pkg-config.

SPATIALITE_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the spatialite.h header file.

SPATIALITE_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_SPATIALITE=ON/OFF: Control whether to use Spatialite. Defaults to ON when Spatialite is found.

SQLite3

The SQLite3 library is required for the SQLite / Spatialite RDBMS and GPKG -- GeoPackage vector drivers (and also used by other drivers), and the SQL SQLite dialect.

SQLite3_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the sqlite3.h header file.

SQLite3_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file, such as libsqlite3.so, sqlite3.lib or other name.

GDAL_USE_SQLITE3=ON/OFF: Control whether to use SQLite3. Defaults to ON when SQLite3 is found.

SFCGAL

SFCGAL is a geometry library which supports ISO 19107:2013 and OGC Simple Features Access 1.2 for 3D operations (PolyhedralSurface, TINs, ...)

SFCGAL_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the base include directory.

SFCGAL_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable SFCGAL_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_SFCGAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use SFCGAL. Defaults to ON when SFCGAL is found.

SWIG

SWIG is a software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages. It is used for the Python, Java and CSharp bindings.

SWIG_EXECUTABLE

Path to the SWIG executable.

Note that setting it explicitly might be needed, and that putting the directory of the installed binary into the PATH might not be sufficient. The reason is that when building from source, a "swig" binary will be generated, but FindSWIG will prefer a "swig-4.0" binary if found elsewhere in the PATH.

TEIGHA

The TEIGHA / Open Design Alliance libraries (closed source/proprietary) are required for the AutoCAD DWG and Microstation DGN v8 drivers. Note that on Linux, with a SDK consisting of shared libraries, the bin/{platform_name} subdirectory of the SDK should be in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH so that the linking of applications succeeds. The TEIGHA_ROOT variable must be set.

TEIGHA_ROOT: Path to the base directory where the Kernel and Drawings package must be extracted.

TEIGHA_ACTIVATION_FILE_DIRECTORY: Path to a directory where a OdActivationInfo file is located. If the file is somewhere under TEIGHA_ROOT, it will be automatically discovered. Otherwise this variable must be set for recent SDK versions (at least with 2021 and later).

GDAL_USE_TEIGHA=ON/OFF: Control whether to use TEIGHA. Defaults to ON when TEIGHA is found.

TIFF

libtiff is required for the GTiff -- GeoTIFF File Format drivers, and a few other drivers. If not found, an internal copy of libtiff can be used.

TIFF_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the tiff.h header file.

TIFF_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file, such as libtiff.so, tiff.lib, or other name. A similar variable TIFF_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

GDAL_USE_TIFF=ON/OFF: Control whether to use external libtiff. Defaults to ON when external libtiff is found.

GDAL_USE_TIFF_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal libtiff copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_TIFF=ON

TileDB

The TileDB <https://github.com/TileDB-Inc/TileDB> library is required for the TileDB - TileDB raster driver. Specify install prefix in the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable.

TileDB >= 2.15 is required since GDAL 3.9

GDAL_USE_TILEDB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use TileDB. Defaults to ON when TileDB is found.

WebP

WebP is a image compression library. It is required for the WEBP - WEBP driver, and may be used by the GPKG -- GeoPackage raster and the internal libtiff library.

WEBP_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the webp/encode.h header file.

WEBP_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_WEBP=ON/OFF: Control whether to use WebP. Defaults to ON when WebP is found.

XercesC

Xerces-C is a stream-oriented XML parser library which is required to enable XML parsing capabilities in the NAS - ALKIS, "INTERLIS 1" and "INTERLIS 2" drivers and GMLAS - Geography Markup Language (GML) driven by application schemas drivers. It can also be used as an alternative to Expat for the GML driver.

XercesC_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to the base include directory.

XercesC_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_XERCESC=ON/OFF: Control whether to use XercesC. Defaults to ON when XercesC is found.

ZLIB

ZLib is a compression library which offers the lossless Deflate/Zip compression algorithm.

ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the zlib.h header file.

ZLIB_LIBRARY_RELEASE: Path to a shared or static library file. A similar variable ZLIB_LIBRARY_DEBUG can also be specified to a similar library for building Debug releases.

ZLIB_IS_STATIC: Link to static external ZLIB directory. Only used if GDAL_USE_ZLIB_INTERNAL=OFF and MSVC.

GDAL_USE_ZLIB=ON/OFF: Control whether to use ZLIB. Defaults to ON when ZLIB is found.

GDAL_USE_ZLIB_INTERNAL=ON/OFF: Control whether to use internal zlib copy. Defaults depends on GDAL_USE_INTERNAL_LIBS. When set to ON, has precedence over GDAL_USE_ZLIB=ON

ZSTD

ZSTD is a compression library which offers the lossless ZStd compression algorithm (faster than Deflate/ZIP, but incompatible with it). It is used by the internal libtiff library or the Zarr driver.

ZSTD_INCLUDE_DIR: Path to an include directory with the zstd.h header file.

ZSTD_LIBRARY: Path to a shared or static library file.

GDAL_USE_ZSTD=ON/OFF: Control whether to use ZSTD. Defaults to ON when ZSTD is found.

Selection of drivers

By default, all drivers that have their build requirements satisfied will be built-in in the GDAL core library.

The following options are available to select a subset of drivers:

GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>:BOOL=ON/OFF

OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>:BOOL=ON/OFF

Independently of options that control global behavior, drivers can be individually enabled or disabled with those options.

Note

<driver_name> above and below is generally, but not systematically the short driver name.

Some drivers may also be grouped together for build purposes.

A number of "raw" raster drivers (ACE2, BT, BYN, CPG, CTable2, DIPEx, DOQ1, DOQ2, EHDR, EIR, ENVI, FAST, GenBIN, GSC, GTX, MFF2, ISCE, KRO, MFF, LAN, LCP, LOSLAS, NDF, NTv2, PAUX, PNM, ROIPAC, RRASTER, SNODAS) are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_RAW option.
Planetary raster formats (PDS, PDS4, ISIS2, ISIS3, VICAR) are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_PDS option.
The AAIGRID, GRASSASCIIGRID and ISG raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_AAIGRID option.
The ECW and JP2ECW raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_ECW option.
The vector EEDA and raster EEDAI drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_EEDA option.
The GSAG, GSBG and GS7BG raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_GSG option.
The HDF5 and BAG raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_HDF5 option.
The MrSID and JP2MrSID raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_MRSID option.
The NITF, RPFTOC and ECRGTOC raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_NITF option.
The NWT_GRD and NWT_GRC raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_NORTHWOOD option.
The SRP and ADRG raster drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_ADRG option.
The Interlis 1 and Interlis 2 vector drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_ILI option.
The WFS and OAPIF vector drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_WFS option.
The AVCBIN and AVCE00 vector drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_AVC option.
The DWG and DGNv8 vector drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_DWG option.

There might be variations in naming, e.g. :

the "AIG" raster driver is controlled by GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_AIGRID.
the "ESAT" raster driver is controlled by GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_ENVISAT.
the "GeoRaster" raster driver is controlled by GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_GEOR.
the "RST" raster driver is controlled by GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_IDRISI.
the "ElasticSearch" vector driver is controlled by OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_ELASTIC.
the "PostgreSQL" vector driver is controlled by OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_PG.
the "UK .NTF" vector driver is controlled by OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_NTF.

Note

Drivers that have both a raster and vector side (and are internally implemented by a single GDALDriver instance) are controlled by either a GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> option or a OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> one, but not both:

The CAD drivers are controlled by the OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_CAD option.
The netCDF drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_NETCDF option.
The PDF drivers are controlled by the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_PDF option.
The GPKG drivers are controlled by the OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_GPKG option.
The NGW drivers are controlled by the OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_NGW option.
The SQLite drivers are controlled by the OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_SQLITE option.

Note

The GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> and OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> options are only created when their required dependencies are found.

GDAL_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS:BOOL=ON/OFF

OGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS:BOOL=ON/OFF

Globally enable/disable all optional GDAL/raster, resp. all optional OGR/vector drivers. More exactly, setting those variables to ON affect the default value of the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> or OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name> variables (when they are not yet set).

This can be combined with individual activation of a subset of drivers by using the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>:BOOL=ON or OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>:BOOL=ON variables. Note that changing the value of GDAL_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS/ OGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS after a first run of CMake does not change the activation of individual drivers. It might be needed to pass -UGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_* -UOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_* to reset their state.

Note

The following GDAL drivers cannot be disabled: VRT, DERIVED, GTiff, COG, HFA, MEM. The following OGR drivers cannot be disabled: "ESRI Shapefile", "MapInfo File", OGR_VRT, Memory, KML, GeoJSON, GeoJSONSeq, ESRIJSON, TopoJSON.

Note

Disabling all OGR/vector drivers with -DOGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS=OFF may affect the ability to enable some GDAL/raster drivers that require some vector drivers to be enabled (and reciprocally with some GDAL/raster drivers depending on vector drivers). When such dependencies are not met, a CMake error will be emitted with a hint for the way to resolve the issue. It is also possible to anticipate such errors by looking at files CMakeLists.txt for dependencies of raster drivers and CMakeLists.txt for dependencies of vector drivers.

Example of minimal build with the JP2OpenJPEG and SVG drivers enabled:

cmake .. -UGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_* -UOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_* \
         -DGDAL_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS:BOOL=OFF -DOGR_BUILD_OPTIONAL_DRIVERS:BOOL=OFF \
         -DGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_JP2OPENJPEG:BOOL=ON \
         -DOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_SVG:BOOL=ON

Build drivers as plugins

An important subset, but not all, drivers can be also built as plugin, that is to say as standalone .dll/.so shared libraries, to be installed in the gdalplugins subdirectory of the GDAL installation. This can be useful in particular for drivers that depend on libraries that have a license different (proprietary, copyleft, ...) from the core GDAL library.

The list of drivers that can be built as plugins can be obtained with:

cmake .. -L | grep -e "_ENABLE.*PLUGIN"

The following options are available to select the plugin/builtin status of a driver:

GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN:BOOL=ON/OFF

OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN:BOOL=ON/OFF

Independently of options that control global behavior, drivers can be individually enabled or disabled with those options.

Note that for the driver to be built, the corresponding base GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_{driver_name}:BOOL=ON or OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_{driver_name}:BOOL=ON option must be set.

GDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS:BOOL=ON/OFF

Globally enable/disable building all (plugin capable), GDAL and OGR, drivers as plugins. More exactly, setting that variable to ON affects the default value of the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN or OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN variables (when they are not yet set).

This can be combined with individual activation/deactivation of the plugin status with the GDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_{driver_name}_PLUGIN:BOOL or OGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_{driver_name}_PLUGIN:BOOL variables. Note that changing the value of GDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS after a first run of CMake does not change the activation of the plugin status of individual drivers. It might be needed to pass -UGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_* -UOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_* to reset their state.

Example of build with all potential drivers as plugins, except the JP2OpenJPEG one:

cmake .. -UGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_* -UOGR_ENABLE_DRIVER_* \
         -DGDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS:BOOL=ON \
         -DGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_JP2OPENJPEG_PLUGIN:BOOL=OFF

There is a subtelty regarding GDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS:BOOL=ON. It only controls the plugin status of plugin-capable drivers that have external dependencies, that are not part of GDAL core dependencies (e.g. are netCDF, HDF4, Oracle, PDF, etc.).

GDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS_NO_DEPS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Globally enable/disable building all (plugin capable), GDAL and OGR, drivers as plugins, for drivers that have no external dependencies (e.g. BMP, FlatGeobuf), or that have dependencies that are part of GDAL core dependencies (e.g GPX). Building such drivers as plugins is generally not necessary, hence the use of a different option from GDAL_ENABLE_PLUGINS.

In some circumstances, it might be desirable to prevent loading of GDAL plugins. This can be done with:

GDAL_AUTOLOAD_PLUGINS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Set to OFF to disable loading of GDAL plugins. Default is ON.

Deferred loaded plugins

Starting with GDAL 3.9, a number of in-tree drivers, that can be built as plugins, are loaded in a deferred way. This involves that some part of their code, which does not depend on external libraries, is included in core libgdal, whereas most of the driver code is in a separated dynamically loaded library. For builds where libgdal and its plugins are built in a single operation, this is fully transparent to the user.

When a plugin driver is known of core libgdal, but not available as a plugin at runtime, GDAL will inform the user that the plugin is not available, but could be installed. It is possible to give more hints on how to install a plugin by setting the following option:

GDAL_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN_INSTALLATION_MESSAGE:STRING

OGR_DRIVER_<driver_name>_PLUGIN_INSTALLATION_MESSAGE:STRING: Custom message to give a hint to the user how to install a missing plugin

For example, if doing a build with:

cmake .. -DOGR_DRIVER_PARQUET_PLUGIN_INSTALLATION_MESSAGE="You may install it with with 'conda install -c conda-forge libgdal-arrow-parquet'"

and opening a Parquet file while the plugin is not installed will display the following error:

$ ogrinfo poly.parquet
ERROR 4: `poly.parquet' not recognized as a supported file format. It could have been recognized by driver Parquet, but plugin ogr_Parquet.so is not available in your installation. You may install it with with 'conda install -c conda-forge libgdal-arrow-parquet'

For more specific builds where libgdal would be first built, and then plugin drivers built in later incremental builds, this approach would not work, given that the core libgdal built initially would lack code needed to declare the plugin(s).

In that situation, the user building GDAL will need to explicitly declare at initial libgdal build time that one or several plugin(s) will be later built. Note that it is safe to distribute such a libgdal library, even if the plugins are not always available at runtime.

This can be done with the following option:

GDAL_REGISTER_DRIVER_<driver_name>_FOR_LATER_PLUGIN:BOOL=ON

OGR_REGISTER_DRIVER_<driver_name>_FOR_LATER_PLUGIN:BOOL=ON: Declares that a driver will be later built as a plugin.

Setting this option to drivers not ready for it will lead to an explicit CMake error.

For some drivers (ECW, HEIF, JP2KAK, JPEG, JPEGXL, KEA, LERC, MrSID, MSSQLSpatial, netCDF, OpenJPEG, PDF, TileDB, WEBP), the metadata and/or dataset identification code embedded on libgdal, will depend on optional capabilities of the dependent library (e.g. libnetcdf for netCDF) In that situation, it is desirable that the dependent library is available at CMake configuration time for the core libgdal built, but disabled with GDAL_USE_<driver_name>=OFF. It must of course be re-enabled later when the plugin is built.

For example for netCDF:

cmake .. -DGDAL_REGISTER_DRIVER_NETCDF_FOR_LATER_PLUGIN=ON -DGDAL_USE_NETCDF=OFF
cmake --build .

cmake .. -DGDAL_USE_NETCDF=ON -DGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_NETCDF=ON -DGDAL_ENABLE_DRIVER_NETCDF_PLUGIN=ON
cmake --build . --target gdal_netCDF

For other drivers, GDAL_REGISTER_DRIVER_<driver_name>_FOR_LATER_PLUGIN / OGR_REGISTER_DRIVER_<driver_name>_FOR_LATER_PLUGIN can be declared at libgdal build time without requiring the dependent libraries needed to build the plugin later to be available.

Out-of-tree deferred loaded plugins

Out-of-tree drivers can also benefit from the deferred loading capability, provided libgdal is built with CMake variable(s) pointing to external code containing the code for registering a proxy driver.

This can be done with the following option:

ADD_EXTERNAL_DEFERRED_PLUGIN_<driver_name>:FILEPATH=/path/to/some/file.cpp

The pointed file must declare a void DeclareDeferred<driver_name>(void) method with C linkage that takes care of creating a GDALPluginDriverProxy instance and calling GDALDriverManager::DeclareDeferredPluginDriver() on it.

Python bindings options

BUILD_PYTHON_BINDINGS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Whether Python bindings should be built. It is ON by default, but only effective if a Python installation is found.

A nominal Python installation should comprise the Python runtime (>= 3.6) and the setuptools module. numpy and its header and development library are also strongly recommended.

The Python installation is normally found if found in the path or registered through other standard installation mechanisms of the Python installers. It is also possible to specify it using several variables, as detailed in https://cmake.org/cmake/help/git-stage/module/FindPython.html

GDAL also provides the following option:

Python_LOOKUP_VERSION:STRING=major.minor.patch: When it is specified, Python_FIND_STRATEGY=VERSION is assumed. Note that the patch number must be provided, as the EXACT strategy is used

Other useful options:

Python_FIND_VIRTUALENV: Specify 'ONLY' to use virtualenv activated.

Python_ROOT: Specify Python installation prefix.

Examples:

cmake -DPython_LOOKUP_VERSION=3.6.0 ..
cmake -DPython_FIND_VIRTUALENV=ONLY ..
cmake -DPython_ROOT=C:\Python36 ..

The following options are advanced ones and only taken into account during the install CMake target.

GDAL_PYTHON_INSTALL_PREFIX: This option can be specified to a directory name, to override the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX option. It is used to set the value of the --prefix option of python3 setup.py install.

GDAL_PYTHON_INSTALL_LAYOUT: This option can be specified to set the value of the --install-layout option of python3 setup.py install. The install layout is by default set to deb when it is detected that the Python installation looks for the site-packages subdirectory. Otherwise it is unspecified.

GDAL_PYTHON_INSTALL_LIB: This option can be specified to set the value of the --install-lib option of python3 setup.py install. It is only taken into account on MacOS systems, when the Python installation is a framework.

Note

The Python bindings are made of several modules (osgeo.gdal, osgeo.ogr, etc.) which link each against libgdal. Consequently, a static build of libgdal is not compatible with the bindings.

Java bindings options

BUILD_JAVA_BINDINGS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Whether Java bindings should be built. It is ON by default, but only effective if Java runtime and development packages are found. The relevant options that can be set are described in https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindJava.html and https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FindJNI.html. The ant binary must also be available in the PATH.

GDAL_JAVA_INSTALL_DIR: Subdirectory into which to install the gdal.jar file. It defaults to "${CMAKE_INSTALL_DATADIR}/java"

Note

Prior to GDAL 3.8, the gdalalljni library was also installed in that directory. Starting with GDAL 3.8, this is controlled by the GDAL_JAVA_JNI_INSTALL_DIR variable.

GDAL_JAVA_JNI_INSTALL_DIR: New in version 3.8.

Subdirectory into which to install the libgdalalljni.so / libgdalalljni.dylib / gdalalljni.dll library. It defaults to "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/jni".

Note

Prior to GDAL 3.8, the gdalalljni library was installed in the directory controlled by the GDAL_JAVA_INSTALL_DIR variable.

Note

The Java bindings are made of several modules (org.osgeo.gdal, org.osgeo.ogr, etc.) which link each against libgdal. Consequently, a static build of libgdal is not compatible with the bindings.

Option only to be used by maintainers:

GPG_KEY: GPG key to sign build artifacts. Needed to generate bundle.jar.

GPG_PASS: GPG pass phrase to sign build artifacts.

C# bindings options

For more details on how to build and use the C# bindings read the dedicated section Compiling the C# bindings - CMake Scripts.

BUILD_CSHARP_BINDINGS:BOOL=ON/OFF: Whether C# bindings should be built. It is ON by default, but only effective if C# runtime and development packages are found. Either .NET SDK can be used or Mono. The relevant options that can be set are described in cmake/modules/thirdparty/FindDotNetFrameworkSdk.cmake and cmake/modules/thirdparty/FindMono.cmake.

CSHARP_MONO=ON/OFF: Forces the use of Mono as opposed to .NET to compile the C# bindings.

CSHARP_LIBRARY_VERSION: Sets the .NET (or Mono) target SDK to be used when compiling the C# binding libraries. List of acceptable contents for .NET

CSHARP_APPLICATION_VERSION: Sets the .NET (or Mono) target SDK to be used when compiling the C# sample applications. List of acceptable contents for .NET

GDAL_CSHARP_ONLY=OFF/ON: Build the C# bindings without building GDAL. This should be used when building the bindings on top of an existing GDAL installation - for instance on top of the CONDA package.

Note

The C# bindings are made of several modules (OSGeo.GDAL, OSGeo.OGR, etc.) which link each against libgdal. Consequently, a static build of libgdal is not compatible with the bindings.

Driver specific options

GDAL_USE_PUBLICDECOMPWT: The MSG -- Meteosat Second Generation driver is built only if this option is set to ON (default is OFF). Its effect is to download the https://gitlab.eumetsat.int/open-source/PublicDecompWT.git repository (requires the git binary to be available at configuration time) into the build tree and build the needed files from it into the driver.

Cross-compiling for Android

First refer to https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-toolchains.7.html#cross-compiling-for-android and to start.sh for an example of a build script to cross-compile from Ubuntu.

Typical build issues

How do I get PROJ ?

PROJ is the only required build-time dependency of GDAL that is not vendorized in the GDAL source code tree. Consequently, the PROJ header and library must be available when configuring GDAL's CMake. Consult PROJ installation <https://proj.org/install.html>.

Conflicting PROJ libraries

If using a custom PROJ build (that is a PROJ build that does not come from a distribution channel), it can sometimes happen that this custom PROJ build conflicts with packaged dependencies, such as spatialite or libgeotiff, that themselves link to another copy of PROJ.

The clean way to solve this is to rebuild from sources those other libraries against the custom PROJ build. For Linux based systems, given that C API/ABI has been preserved in the PROJ 6, 7, 8, 9 series, if the custom PROJ build is more recent than the PROJ used by those other libraries, doing aliases of the older libproj.so.XX name to the newer libproj.so.YY (with ln -s) should work, although it is definitely not recommended to use this solution in a production environment.

In any case, if ldd libgdal.so | grep libproj reports more than one line, crashes will occur at runtime (often at process termination with a malloc_consolidate(): invalid chunk size and/or Aborted (core dumped) error message)

Autoconf/nmake (GDAL versions < 3.5.0)

See https://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/BuildHints for hints for GDAL < 3.5 autoconf and nmake build systems.