diff --git a/R/RcppExports.R b/R/RcppExports.R
index 57a366b3c..3d8d0aa2b 100644
--- a/R/RcppExports.R
+++ b/R/RcppExports.R
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ CPL_gdalinfo <- function(obj, options, oo, co) {
     .Call(`_sf_CPL_gdalinfo`, obj, options, oo, co)
 }
 
-CPL_ogrinfo <- function(obj, options, oo, co) {
-    .Call(`_sf_CPL_ogrinfo`, obj, options, oo, co)
+CPL_ogrinfo <- function(obj, options, oo, co, read_only = FALSE) {
+    .Call(`_sf_CPL_ogrinfo`, obj, options, oo, co, read_only)
 }
 
 CPL_gdaladdo <- function(obj, method, overviews, bands, oo, co, clean = FALSE, read_only = FALSE) {
diff --git a/R/gdal_utils.R b/R/gdal_utils.R
index 36e8a827f..6fa1596df 100644
--- a/R/gdal_utils.R
+++ b/R/gdal_utils.R
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ resampling_method = function(option = "near") {
 #' @param quiet logical; if \code{TRUE}, suppress printing the output for \code{info} and \code{mdiminfo}, and suppress printing progress
 #' @param processing character; processing options for \code{demprocessing}
 #' @param colorfilename character; name of color file for \code{demprocessing} (mandatory if \code{processing="color-relief"})
+#' @param read_only logical; only for `ogrinfo`: if `TRUE`, source is opened in read-only mode
 #' @return \code{info} returns a character vector with the raster metadata; all other utils return (invisibly) a logical indicating success (i.e., \code{TRUE}); in case of failure, an error is raised.
 #' @export
 #' @seealso \link{gdal_addo} for adding overlays to a raster file; \link{st_layers} to query geometry type(s) and crs from layers in a (vector) data source
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ gdal_utils = function(util = "info", source, destination, options = character(0)
 		quiet = !(util %in% c("info", "gdalinfo", "ogrinfo", "vectorinfo", 
 							  "mdiminfo")) || ("-multi" %in% options),
 		processing = character(0), colorfilename = character(0),
-		config_options = character(0)) {
+		config_options = character(0), read_only = FALSE) {
 
 	stopifnot(is.character(options), is.character(config_options))
 	if (!quiet && "-multi" %in% options)
@@ -103,7 +104,8 @@ gdal_utils = function(util = "info", source, destination, options = character(0)
 
 	ret = switch(util,
 			gdalinfo =, info = CPL_gdalinfo(if (missing(source)) character(0) else source, options, oo, config_options),
-			vectorinfo =, ogrinfo = CPL_ogrinfo(if (missing(source)) character(0) else source, options, oo, config_options),
+			vectorinfo =, ogrinfo = CPL_ogrinfo(if (missing(source)) character(0) else source, options, oo, config_options, 
+												isTRUE(read_only) || "-ro" %in% options),
 			warp = CPL_gdalwarp(source, destination, options, oo, doo, config_options, quiet, "-overwrite" %in% options),
 			warper = CPL_gdal_warper(source, destination, as.integer(resampling_method(options)),
 				oo, doo, config_options, quiet), # nocov
diff --git a/man/gdal_utils.Rd b/man/gdal_utils.Rd
index f8cfef2e0..370392d31 100644
--- a/man/gdal_utils.Rd
+++ b/man/gdal_utils.Rd
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ gdal_utils(
     ("-multi" \%in\% options),
   processing = character(0),
   colorfilename = character(0),
-  config_options = character(0)
+  config_options = character(0),
+  read_only = FALSE
 )
 }
 \arguments{
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@ gdal_utils(
 \item{colorfilename}{character; name of color file for \code{demprocessing} (mandatory if \code{processing="color-relief"})}
 
 \item{config_options}{named character vector with GDAL config options, like \code{c(option1=value1, option2=value2)}}
+
+\item{read_only}{logical; only for \code{ogrinfo}: if \code{TRUE}, source is opened in read-only mode}
 }
 \value{
 \code{info} returns a character vector with the raster metadata; all other utils return (invisibly) a logical indicating success (i.e., \code{TRUE}); in case of failure, an error is raised.
diff --git a/src/RcppExports.cpp b/src/RcppExports.cpp
index 039d37e11..8dac5ea11 100644
--- a/src/RcppExports.cpp
+++ b/src/RcppExports.cpp
@@ -373,8 +373,8 @@ BEGIN_RCPP
 END_RCPP
 }
 // CPL_ogrinfo
-Rcpp::CharacterVector CPL_ogrinfo(Rcpp::CharacterVector obj, Rcpp::CharacterVector options, Rcpp::CharacterVector oo, Rcpp::CharacterVector co);
-RcppExport SEXP _sf_CPL_ogrinfo(SEXP objSEXP, SEXP optionsSEXP, SEXP ooSEXP, SEXP coSEXP) {
+Rcpp::CharacterVector CPL_ogrinfo(Rcpp::CharacterVector obj, Rcpp::CharacterVector options, Rcpp::CharacterVector oo, Rcpp::CharacterVector co, bool read_only);
+RcppExport SEXP _sf_CPL_ogrinfo(SEXP objSEXP, SEXP optionsSEXP, SEXP ooSEXP, SEXP coSEXP, SEXP read_onlySEXP) {
 BEGIN_RCPP
     Rcpp::RObject rcpp_result_gen;
     Rcpp::RNGScope rcpp_rngScope_gen;
@@ -382,7 +382,8 @@ BEGIN_RCPP
     Rcpp::traits::input_parameter< Rcpp::CharacterVector >::type options(optionsSEXP);
     Rcpp::traits::input_parameter< Rcpp::CharacterVector >::type oo(ooSEXP);
     Rcpp::traits::input_parameter< Rcpp::CharacterVector >::type co(coSEXP);
-    rcpp_result_gen = Rcpp::wrap(CPL_ogrinfo(obj, options, oo, co));
+    Rcpp::traits::input_parameter< bool >::type read_only(read_onlySEXP);
+    rcpp_result_gen = Rcpp::wrap(CPL_ogrinfo(obj, options, oo, co, read_only));
     return rcpp_result_gen;
 END_RCPP
 }
@@ -1510,7 +1511,7 @@ static const R_CallMethodDef CallEntries[] = {
     {"_sf_CPL_read_ogr", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_read_ogr, 14},
     {"_sf_CPL_read_gdal_stream", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_read_gdal_stream, 12},
     {"_sf_CPL_gdalinfo", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_gdalinfo, 4},
-    {"_sf_CPL_ogrinfo", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_ogrinfo, 4},
+    {"_sf_CPL_ogrinfo", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_ogrinfo, 5},
     {"_sf_CPL_gdaladdo", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_gdaladdo, 8},
     {"_sf_CPL_gdalwarp", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_gdalwarp, 8},
     {"_sf_CPL_gdalrasterize", (DL_FUNC) &_sf_CPL_gdalrasterize, 8},
diff --git a/src/gdal_utils.cpp b/src/gdal_utils.cpp
index 080e8f1f1..16f2a26b7 100644
--- a/src/gdal_utils.cpp
+++ b/src/gdal_utils.cpp
@@ -70,14 +70,14 @@ Rcpp::CharacterVector CPL_gdalinfo(Rcpp::CharacterVector obj, Rcpp::CharacterVec
 
 // [[Rcpp::export]]
 Rcpp::CharacterVector CPL_ogrinfo(Rcpp::CharacterVector obj, Rcpp::CharacterVector options, 
-		Rcpp::CharacterVector oo, Rcpp::CharacterVector co) {
+		Rcpp::CharacterVector oo, Rcpp::CharacterVector co, bool read_only = false) {
 	set_config_options(co);
 	std::vector <char *> options_char = create_options(options, true);
 	std::vector <char *> oo_char = create_options(oo, true); // open options
 	GDALDatasetH ds = NULL;
 #if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= 3070000
 	if (obj.size())
-		ds = GDALOpenEx((const char *) obj[0], GA_Update, NULL, oo_char.data(), NULL);
+		ds = GDALOpenEx((const char *) obj[0], read_only ? GA_ReadOnly : GA_Update, NULL, oo_char.data(), NULL);
 	GDALVectorInfoOptions* opt = GDALVectorInfoOptionsNew(options_char.data(), NULL);
 	char *ret_val = GDALVectorInfo(ds, opt);
 	if (ret_val == NULL)