In the gdalbuildvrt documentation, I read

This utility is somehow equivalent to the gdal_vrtmerge.py utility [...]

So what is the difference (if any) between gdalbuildvrt and gdal_vrtmerge.py?

What does "somehow equivalent" mean here?

1. Is one an alias for the other? (

2. Do they have the same command line interface? (I.e., do they accept the same parameters and options, and do so with the same semantics?)

   (It seems so.)

3. Did one replace or deprecate the other?

4. Should one be preferred over the other?

And where can I find more information about gdal_vrtmerge.py? It doesn't seem to be included in my GDAL installation, but it's in the GDAL sources at gdal/swig/python/samples/gdal_vrtmerge.py (download | view on trac) on trunk.

In the gdalbuildvrt documentation, I read

This utility is somehow equivalent to the gdal_vrtmerge.py utility [...]

So what is the difference (if any) between gdalbuildvrt and gdal_vrtmerge.py?

What does "somehow equivalent" mean here?

1. Is one an alias for the other?

2. Do they have the same command line interface? (I.e., do they accept the same parameters and options, and do so with the same semantics?)

   (It seems so.)

3. Did one replace or deprecate the other?

4. Should one be preferred over the other?

And where can I find more information about gdal_vrtmerge.py? It doesn't seem to be included in my GDAL installation, but it's in the GDAL sources at gdal/swig/python/samples/gdal_vrtmerge.py (download | view on trac) on trunk.