How to deploy runtime files to a subfolder in a .NET Framework project

[honeywillrs]

I need to be able to deploy the runtime files to a subfolder (runtimes\win-x64\native would be fine) for my .NET framework project, but the files are always output to the same folder as the main project assembly. How can I achieve this, it looks like it is possible, but I'm not sure how?

If I try to manually move them to "runtimes\win-x64\native" then the configuration/initialisation does not work.

[MaxRev-Dev]

For .NET Framework projects the behavior is expected: native GDAL binaries from the Windows runtime package are copied to the application output folder. The runtimes\win-x64\native layout only works automatically in SDK-style projects with publish-time RID resolution (i.e., .NET Core or SDK-style .NET Framework).

You have two options:

1. Recommended: keep the native DLLs next to your main assembly and simply call:

using MaxRev.Gdal.Core;
GdalBase.ConfigureAll();

2. If you want use runtimes\win-x64\native: move only the native DLLs there and add that folder to the DLL search path before any GDAL calls:

var baseDir = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
var nativePath = Path.Combine(baseDir, "runtimes", "win-x64", "native");
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", nativePath + ";" + Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH"));
GdalBase.ConfigureAll();

You would have to disable restore of this package or remove it completely from the project and configure static reference of DLLs.

You may have to relocate gdal-data or proj.db, set GDAL_DATA / Proj.Configure explicitly.