id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
28178	Allow applications that make optional use of contrib.gis to better silence the lack of a GDAL install	Bas ten Berge	nobody	"I just updated Django 1.11 to 1.11.1 to learn my project would not start without changes to the settings. runserver stops with this message:
{{{
django.contrib.gis.gdal.error.GDALException: Could not find the GDAL library (tried ""gdal"", ""GDAL"", ""gdal1.11.0"", ""gdal1.10.0"", ""gdal1.9.0"", ""gdal1.8.0"", ""gdal1.7.0""). Try setting GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH in your settings.
}}}

My installed apps:
{{{
...
DJANGO_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'django.contrib.humanize',
)

THIRD_PARTY_APPS = (
    'allauth',
    'mailer',
    'taggit',
    'allauth.account',
    'allauth.socialaccount',
    'allauth.socialaccount.providers.google',
    'allauth.socialaccount.providers.linkedin_oauth2',
    'tastypie',
    'avatar',
    'reversion',
    'oauth2_provider',
    'channels',
    'compressor',
    'debug_toolbar', # django-debug-toolbar
)

BROWNPAPERSESSION_APPS = (
    'app',
    'invite',
    'apporg',
    'session', 
    'topic', 
)

INSTALLED_APPS = \
    DJANGO_APPS + THIRD_PARTY_APPS + BROWNPAPERSESSION_APPS

...
}}}

I could find a reference in the docs at https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/releases/1.11.1/:
> Prevented hiding GDAL errors if it’s not installed when using contrib.gis (#28160). (It’s a required dependency as of Django 1.11.)

... but I didn't have the issue when I was running Django 1.11. I did not expect such a dependency change in a minor version update. How can I disable GIS? 
"	Cleanup/optimization	closed	GIS	1.11	Release blocker	fixed	update 1.11.1		Accepted	1	0	0	0	0	0