[asterisk-dev] zaptel, menuselect and autoconf

[Tilghman Lesher]

On Tuesday 31 July 2007 08:13, Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 31, 2007 at 07:34:54AM -0500, Tilghman Lesher wrote:
> > On Tuesday 31 July 2007, Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
> > > > Asterisk is really the application menuselect was designed for.
> > > > However, is there really a point for the common user to disable
> > > > building modules? Again: "make the common task simple, make
> > > > everything possible". One problem with menuselect of today is
> > > > that it makes it all too easy to accidentally building a
> > > > module.
> > >
> > > So again: what usage scenarios are there where there is a benefit
> > > from using menuselect with asterisk?
> > >
> > > (This is not a rhethorical question. Please provide examples)
> >
> > I think the main benefit is persistance.  If you really only need
> > to build two modules for a particular installation, then it is
> > easier simply to do (on update):  "svn update ; ./configure ; make
> > ; make install" (and remember, it is EXACTLY the same sequence as
> > Asterisk, which, on an update, you are going to build as well). 
> > And the persistance saves you both thought time (what does this box
> > actually have installed in it?) and compile time (why am I
> > compiling a module that this box will never use?).
>
> Is this supposed to be quoted as an atvantage of menuselect?
>
> Menuselect breaks persistance: it starts a user interface. It
> must be interactive. Thus does not allow simple automation the way
> configure (autoconf) is. You can't "save" the choices you made there
> in your command-line history.

Not in your command-line history, but your choices are saved and will
persist across an upgrade (assuming you're still in the same release
branch).

> How do you automate the action of "disabling chan_zap"? How do you
> automate the action of "enabling only ztdummy" (of the zaptel kernel
> modules)?

Please understand the difference between automation and persistance.  I
simply meant that you only need to interact with menuselect once, at the
point of installation.  Thereafter, you need only run the sequence.
Furthermore, the sequence that you run to upgrade your entire install
base is the same, regardless of the difference in cards installed in
each machine.

I do understand that as a package maintainer, your needs are different,
in that you would prefer to have automation over persistence, but for
those of us who install Asterisk from source, the persistence is
preferred.

-- 
Tilghman