# RFC 57: 64-bit bucket counts for histograms

Author: Even Rouault

Contact: even dot rouault at spatialys dot com

Status: Adopted, implemented

Version: 2.0

## Summary

This RFC modifies the GDALRasterBand GetHistogram(), GetDefaultHistogram() and SetDefaultHistogram() methods to accept arrays of 64-bit integer instead of the current arrays of 32-bit integer for bucket counts. It also changes GetRasterSampleOverview() to take a 64-bit integer. This will fix issues when operating on large rasters that have more than 2 billion pixels.

## Core changes

The following methods of GDALRasterBand class are modified to take a GUIntBig* argument for GetHistogram() and SetDefaultHistograph(), GUIntBig** for GetDefaultHistogram() and GUIntBig for GetRasterSampleOverview()

    virtual CPLErr  GetHistogram( double dfMin, double dfMax,
                          int nBuckets, GUIntBig * panHistogram,
                          int bIncludeOutOfRange, int bApproxOK,
                          GDALProgressFunc, void *pProgressData );

    virtual CPLErr GetDefaultHistogram( double *pdfMin, double *pdfMax,
                                        int *pnBuckets, GUIntBig ** ppanHistogram,
                                        int bForce,
                                        GDALProgressFunc, void *pProgressData);

    virtual CPLErr SetDefaultHistogram( double dfMin, double dfMax,
                                        int nBuckets, GUIntBig *panHistogram );

    virtual GDALRasterBand *GetRasterSampleOverview( GUIntBig );

PAM serialization/deserialization is also updated.

### C API changes

Only additions :

    CPLErr CPL_DLL CPL_STDCALL GDALGetRasterHistogramEx( GDALRasterBandH hBand,
                                           double dfMin, double dfMax,
                                           int nBuckets, GUIntBig *panHistogram,
                                           int bIncludeOutOfRange, int bApproxOK,
                                           GDALProgressFunc pfnProgress,
                                           void * pProgressData );

    CPLErr CPL_DLL CPL_STDCALL GDALGetDefaultHistogramEx( GDALRasterBandH hBand,
                                           double *pdfMin, double *pdfMax,
                                           int *pnBuckets, GUIntBig **ppanHistogram,
                                           int bForce,
                                           GDALProgressFunc pfnProgress,
                                           void * pProgressData );

    CPLErr CPL_DLL CPL_STDCALL GDALSetDefaultHistogramEx( GDALRasterBandH hBand,
                                           double dfMin, double dfMax,
                                           int nBuckets, GUIntBig *panHistogram );

    GDALRasterBandH CPL_DLL CPL_STDCALL
                               GDALGetRasterSampleOverviewEx( GDALRasterBandH, GUIntBig );

The existing methods GDALGetRasterHistogram(), GDALGetDefaultHistogram() and GDALSetDefaultHistogram() are marked deprecated. They internally call the 64-bit methods, and, for GDALGetRasterHistogram() and GDALGetDefaultHistogram(), warn if a 32-bit overflow would occur, in which case the bucket count is set to INT_MAX.

## Changes in drivers

All in-tree drivers that use/implement the C++ histogram methods are modified: ECW, VRT, MEM and HFA.

## Changes in utilities

gdalinfo and gdalenhance are modified to use the modified methods.

## Changes in SWIG bindings

For Python bindings only, RasterBand.GetHistogram(), GetDefaultHistogram() and SetDefaultHistogram() use the new 64-bit C functions.

Other bindings could be updated, but likely need new typemaps for (int, GUIntBig*). In the meantime, they still use the 32-bit C functions.

## Compatibility

This modifies the C++ API and ABI.

Out-of-tree drivers must make sure to take into account the updated C++ API if they implement some of the 4 modified virtual methods.

## Related ticket

#5159

## Documentation

All new/modified methods/functions are documented. MIGRATION_GUIDE.TXT is updated with a new section for this RFC.

## Testing

Setting/getting 64 bit values is tested in gcore/pam.y and gdrivers/mem.py

## Implementation

Implementation will be done by Even Rouault (Spatialys).

The proposed implementation lies in the “histogram_64bit_count” branch of the https://github.com/rouault/gdal2/tree/histogram_64bit_count.

The list of changes : https://github.com/rouault/gdal2/compare/histogram_64bit_count

## Voting history

+1 from DanielM, JukkaR and EvenR