OGR OSM-driver unable to open datasource

Question

I want to read an OSM file with OGR. I use Version GDAL 1.9.1, released 2012/05/15.

To read a SQLITE file works fine:

$ ogrinfo test.sqlite
INFO: Open of `test.sqlite'
      using driver `SQLite' successful.
1: aaa (Point)

When I try to read a OSM File it fails to open the datasource:

$ ogrinfo test.osm
FAILURE:
Unable to open datasource `test.osm' with the following drivers.
  -> ESRI Shapefile
  -> MapInfo File
  ...

The OSM file itself is not broken (I opened it in QGIS).

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

OSM data (in Protobuf - PBF and the traditional XML format) isn't supported in OGR until at least 1.10.0. Since you have 1.9.1, you can't make use of it at this time. You may wish to upgrade your GDAL/OGR (and whatever other tools you have that depend on it), or import / convert the OSM using another tool first, then use it in OGR.