[Asterisk-Dev] Asterisk test-o-matic

[Kristian Kielhofner]

Hello everyone,

	So, a crazy idea just hit me...  What about making an Asterisk 
patch-o-matic?  As some of you know, I created AstLinux, a distro for 
running Asterisk.  It has turned out to be quite adaptable, and I am 
wondering if it might be able to help with another problem: Asterisk 
patches.

	It is my opinion that people would be much more willing/able to try 
Asterisk patches/CVS Head/etc if it didn't mean patching Asterisk, 
re-compiling, and possibly breaking their production systems (they 
should have test machines, anyways, right?).

	For instance, let's say that I had a machine with a Digium te110p and 
four PRI's connected to it.  Every day from 9-5  it is handling calls 
for my call center or whatever.  However, after hours it is just sitting 
there, idle.  Wouldn't it be cool if I could boot from a CD (or USB 
flash drive, USB hard drive, alternate hard drive, etc) and try out a 
test version of Asterisk, new CVS, new patches, etc?  If something goes 
wrong, reboot, and poof! you are back to your original environment and 
configuration, no harm done.

	I am currently doing a lot of work on an automated 
Asterisk/zaptel/libpri/AstLinux build system that will allow someone to 
build Asterisk/zaptel/libpri (with AstLinux) with a single command (it 
is practically done).  It would not be difficult to add the ability to 
pull down CVS HEAD (or CVS of you choosing), grab any misc. patches 
(again, of your choosing), and rebuild the AstLinux disk image with all 
of this included.  Toss in some debug tools like strace and valgrind and 
I say we are in business!

	To get really crazy (I'll have to think about this one), what if we do 
this all from a web interface like rom-o-matic.net?  Go to the web GUI, 
pick your Asterisk/libpri/zaptel version, pick your patches to test, 
click a button, download your AstLinux disk image, write it to CD/HD, 
etc, and test!

	For the web interface we would NOT be able to build 
Asterisk/libpri/zaptel on the fly for every request, there would have to 
  be selection of images that are built nightly, or whatever.

How about it?  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Wrong list? (oh no, not that) 
Suggestions please!

	P.S. - I realize that it would have been better to think of this months 
ago to better prepare 1.2, it's a little late now.  Oh well, you can't 
always be in the right place at the right time :).	

-- 
Kristian Kielhofner