= gdal-ecw =

 * Plugin for ECW and JPEG2000 Raster Formats
 * Requires gdal and manually-installed ECW 3.3 Runtime libraries
 * Includes bug fix for [http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/ticket/2320 GDAL ticket 2320] so that both ECW and JP2ECW drivers are registered.
 * Maintainer is FrankWarmerdam

== Installing ECW SDK ==

The GDAL ECW Plugin requires the ECW 3.3 Runtime library, which was distributed by ERDAS, but is no longer available for download (see [wiki:pkg-gdal17-ecw] for newer version that is available for download from ERDAS). In order to use the runtime libraries, the end user is required to install the DLLs into a system directory.

ERDAS Web Site: http://www.erdas.com/Products/ERDASProductInformation/tabid/84/currentid/1142/default.aspx

After installation, please copy the DLL files from the {{{redistributable\vc71}}} directory to somewhere appropriate, like {{{C:\windows\system32}}}, or {{{C:\Windows\SysWOW64}}} for 64-bit Windows.

E.g.:
{{{
copy "C:\Program Files\Earth Resource Mapping\ECW SDK\redistributable\vc71\*.dll" C:\windows\system32
}}}

Note that downloading and installing these DLLs requires agreeing to a license. Please review the license terms carefully. 

It is imperative that the VC7.1 ECW 3.3 SDK binaries be used.  Any other ECW (NCS*) DLLs are unlikely to work properly.  Failure to install the correct ECW libraries will normally result in a popup message reading "This application has failed to start because NCSEcw.dll was not found." or a console error report like:

{{{
C:\warmerda>gdalinfo
ERROR 1: Can't load requested DLL: C:\osgeo4w\bin\gdalplugins\gdal_ECW.dll
126: The specified module could not be found.

ERROR 1: Can't load requested DLL: C:\osgeo4w\bin\gdalplugins\gdal_ECW.dll
126: The specified module could not be found.

Usage: gdalinfo [--help-general] [-mm] [-stats] [-nogcp] [-nomd]
                [-noct] [-checksum] [-mdd domain]* datasetname
}}}