GRASS GIS

Version: 6.4.0RC2 (as of Jan 2009)

User Notes

• A command line and GUI desktop raster/vector GIS system.
• ​http://grass.osgeo.org/
• Details on WinGRASS at: ​http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/WinGRASS_Current_Status
• Current packaging should be considered a preliminary proof-of-concept.
• Default install includes only the curses interfaces. You can install the wxpython and/or tcltk package to get the other GUI interfaces.

Installation:

• OSGeo4W has two modes - express and advanced.
  • "Express" gives you a short list of suggested packages to select from which have been widely tested.
  • "Advanced" gives a long detailed list of packages and subpackages including development versions and so forth.
• For the moment GRASS is available in the "advanced" install. After a period of testing it may be moved to the "express" section.

The application can be run through:

• a desktop shortcut
• a menu shortcut
• its executable osgeo4w\apps\grass-6.4.X\bin\grass64.bat
• on the osgeo4w shell through the grass64.bat

How to get command line:

• Start the osgeo4w shell. You need to add python to the path. Then type:

     grass64 -wxpython
  

TODO: Yet the cmd style doesn't change, which is confusing (prompt).

Packager Notes

• Compile guide used: ​http://www.webalice.it/marco.pasetti/grass/BuildFromSource.html (requires updates, better move here)
• Steps:
  • compile GRASS in a way that it fits in the OSGeo4W directory hierarchy
  • package in a tar.bz2 file
  • write/update "setup.hint" which describes the package and defines the dependencies on other OSGeo4W packages
  • if needed, write/update "etc/postinstall/$paketname.bat" which is executed after extraction of the package during installation to define menu stuff and link on user desktop.
• Depends on the MSYS package for command line operations, because GRASS 6 uses unix shell scripts (GRASS 7 uses Python)
• WinGRASS is built with MSYS/MinGW. The libraries used to link to the VC++ built GDAL & friends is in the mingw-libs package.
• There is also a grass-vc package, that contains the VC++ built GRASS libraries. These are used in the Quantum GIS GRASS plugin.
• Release tree: ​http://download.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/release/grass/ (the installer selects the package with highest version number)
• Maintainer is JuergenFischer (seeking new package maintainer)