Install GDAL 2.3 with ECW support on Ubuntu 18.04

gdal_ecw.sh

#!/bin/bash

##
## Tested on: Ubuntu 18.04 & ECW 5.4 & GDAL 2.3.1
##

## Download the ERDAS ECW JP2 SDK v5.4 Linux
## https://download.hexagongeospatial.com/downloads/ecw/erdas-ecw-jp2-sdk-v5-4-linux

## Download GDAL v2.3 Source (ex. 2.3.1)
## http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadSource

## First remove gdal if it's already installed
sudo apt remove gdal-bin gdal-data libgdal20
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install libpng-dev

## Unzip ECW libraries and install.
## At the menu, select 1 for "Desktop Read-Only Redistributable"
unzip erdas-ecw-sdk-5.4.0-linux.zip
chmod +x ERDAS_ECWJP2_SDK-5.4.0.bin
./ERDAS_ECWJP2_SDK-5.4.0.bin

## Copy new libraries to system folder
## Rename the newabi library as x64 and move necessary libraries to /usr/local/lib
sudo cp -r ~/hexagon/ERDAS-ECW_JPEG_2000_SDK-5.4.0/Desktop_Read-Only /usr/local/hexagon
sudo rm -r /usr/local/hexagon/lib/x64
sudo mv /usr/local/hexagon/lib/newabi/x64 /usr/local/hexagon/lib/x64
sudo cp /usr/local/hexagon/lib/x64/release/libNCSEcw* /usr/local/lib
sudo ldconfig /usr/local/hexagon

## Build GDAL with ECW support
unzip gdal-2.3.1.zip
cd gdal-2.3.1

./configure --with-ecw=/usr/local/hexagon
make clean
make
sudo make install

## Check if it works
gdalinfo --formats | grep ECW

## Remove installation files
sudo rm -rf ~/hexagon/

echo "SKO BUFFS!"

ibpng warning: Application was compiled with png.h from libpng-1.6.34
libpng warning: Application is running with png.c from libpng-1.2.56
libpng error: Incompatible libpng version in application and library

hi, how can I enable ecw on linux qgis?

Don't know why got following problem:
/libgdal.so: undefined reference to `kealib::KEAImageIO::setImageBandDescription(unsigned int, std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits, std::allocator >)'
Is it because of missing kealib?

hey, thanks for the help this also functioned in Kubunto 16.04 with qgis 2.18 ltr.

u also should change line 26 to sudo rm - r and u need to restart the machine to complete the process

Lines 20 and 21 still refer to SDK v 5.3.0 and should be changed to v 5.4.0 to work properly.

For use in QGIS, take exactly the same GDAL version as QGIS is build against. https://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/ECW suggests to use GDAL 2.2.4 or newer, so I got lucky with the QGIS ubuntugis build and GDAL 2.3.2: https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/313294/cant-install-support-for-ecw-in-qgis-3-6-3-4-on-ubuntu-18-04

It seems to be necessary that you have to install the libpng-dev package before the self-compiling. Otherwise QGIS won't work.

Hi @eduardojsilvajr @Andre-J thanks for the comments, I've updated the script based upon your feedback.

I am new in Ubuntu and I have tried the instructions, what I need to make this build working with GeoServer and make ECW working too

Ubuntu 18.04
At the end of script must execute: sudo ldconfig
otherwise there is an error:

gdalinfo: error while loading shared libraries: libgdal.so.20: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

@1papaya @eduardojsilvajr Do you know how to compile to add GML GDAL support(Ubuntu 18.04)?

@IAutil sorry, have never done this.

This script removed QGIS 3.10 from Ubuntu 18.01 and I cannot reinstall QGIS.

@ayacoub1

I am new in Ubuntu and I have tried the instructions, what I need to make this build working with GeoServer and make ECW working too

are you able to make it work with geoserver? i stuck for 2 weeks

Awesome! Thank you so much.

Thank you! It worked for me on Ubuntu 20 as well while official GDAL manual does not work.