ogr2ogr mistakenly confusing a shapefile as a dataset

[ldeshazer]

When trying to append one shapefile to another, ogr2ogr attempted to treat the original shapefile as a folder/complete dataset. When moving the original shapefile to its own folder and specifying a layer, the append worked properly.

(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h) ogr2ogr 41117.shp 1117H1DG.shp
(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h) ogr2ogr -update -append 41117.shp 1117H6DG.shp
ERROR 1: Failed to create file .shp file.
ERROR 4: Failed to open Shapefile `41117.shp/1117H6DG.shp'.

ERROR 1: Terminating translation prematurely after failed
translation of layer 1117H6DG

(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h) ls
1117H1DG      1117H6DG      1117H7DG      1117H8DG      41117.dbf
1117H1DG.dbf  1117H6DG.dbf  1117H7DG.dbf  1117H8DG.dbf  41117.shp
1117H1DG.shp  1117H6DG.shp  1117H7DG.shp  1117H8DG.shp  41117.shx
1117H1DG.shx  1117H6DG.shx  1117H7DG.shx  1117H8DG.shx

(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h) mkdir 41117; mv 41117.* 41117/
(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h) ogr2ogr -update -append 41117/41117.shp 1117H6DG.shp -nln 41117
(lucasd@burrito:~/rawdems/41117/h)

[Even Rouault]

Actually, you don't need to move the 41117.shp in a subdirectory, but the -nln argument is necessary.

So, "ogr2ogr -update -append 41117.shp 1117H6DG.shp -nln 41117" should work.

If you don't specify -nln, ogr2ogr will try to add a new layer named 1117H6DG inside the 41117.shp file, which is impossible.

I admit it would be good if the -nln could be added automagically in that situation, but I don't really see how to do that without writing a nasty hack in ogr2ogr.cpp.

[Even Rouault]

Hack added in r21111. Test added in r21113