[asterisk-dev] minimal default configuration

[Michiel van Baak]

On 20:29, Sat 24 Nov 07, Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
> The subdirectory configs/ of asterisk contains well-annotated and
> detailed configuration files. Those files are installed as 'sample'
> configuration files (the separate installation target 'make samples').
> Thus they serve both the purpose of reference and example.
> 
> There's an annoying behaviour I occasionally run into with respect to
> the Asterisk configuration files in Debian packages. But please bear
> with me, as I'll explain later why I think it indicates a more generic
> problem.
> 
> With Debian packaging there's special handling of configuration files
> (basically: files under /etc ). Those files are generally not to be
> automatically updated if the user has edited them. If the user has, dpkg
> will ask the user what to do (get the new version? keep the modified
> one? fix things manually?)
> 
> The asterisk package (actually a separate sub-package, asterisk-config,
> but this is for unrelated technical reasons) thus has some 67 files
> under /etc/asterisk/ . If a user just installs asterisk and doesn't
> need to change any of those: no problem - an upgrade will go smoothly.
> But if the user has actually changed anything, then on an upgrade he has
> extra work.
> 
> So an upgrade of the asterisk-config (even if this is due to a small
> change that has not really changed the behaviour  of the relevant
> module) becomes a pain. 
> 
> And then again: some users want to just start from scratch, without the
> many samples. And thus they have to actively delete our files.
> 
> 
> So what happens for those users who don't like debs? 
> With a typical installation you'd just run 'make samples' once at
> initial install and hope to have a sane defaults. 
> 
> And then what happens if you upgrade Asterisk and the file in configs/
> changes? The file under /etc/asterisk would still be the old, unfixed,
> copy. 
> 
> 
> And then the files themselves are quite detailed. They also set quite a
> few values, and thus make then a sort of "de-facto defaults". And by
> that they are confusing as reference. Two examples for that:
> 
> asterisk.conf is sets all the values under [directories] even though
> there's no need to set them. That file is generated to reflect the
> default build settings. Thus there is no need to set any value in
> the [directoies] section to get the required result.
> 
> So the file asterisk.conf installed by default will confuse me if I want
> to write one from scratch.
> 
> (BTW: the other sectoins in asterisk.conf are indeed well-written. At
> least the version in trunk)
> 
> Do you think that indeed default values should generally not be enabled
> in the sample configuration files? 
> 
> 
> 
> The [modules] section in modules.conf includes "autoload=yes". I ofen
> wonder why this is not the default: if you don't want to load modules
> automatically, you'll need to take the time to handcraft the list of
> modules in modules.conf anyway. Adding "autoload=no" there is no
> problem.
> 
> Such a case (sample value differs from the default) is a source for
> support issues: what exactly is the "default"? If someone wrote that
> file from scratch, did he forget that?
> 
> Changing the default to a value is naturally not something to be taken
> lightly. I wonder what other configuration values in Asterisk have
> incorrect defaults.
> 
> 
> And then there are some cases where too many things are installed. Why
> do we need both extensions.conf and extensions.ael installed? Assuming
> that both pbx_config.so and pbx_ael.so are installed (which is the
> default) both will be installed and the result is a confusing dialplan.
> 
> 
> So I'd like to get to a situation where Asterisk is as functional as
> possible with the minimal ammount of configuration files, rather than
> rely on the sample config files.
> 

All them configuration files will only be installed if you
manually run 'make samples'
I think you should do the same with the debian package. Make
it optional. Dont let asterisk or asterisk-addons or
whatever package depend on it.

Yes, I'm a big OpenBSD fan, I know, but hear me out.
For this same reason OpenBSD upgrades dont install the
etc<version>.tgz
the etc<version>.tgz tarball has the default configs for
that version, and during an upgrade you cannot select the
etc tarball to be installed. They do notify you to compare
the stuff by hand and they also give a list of files you
probably can copy verbatim and a list of files you most
probably edited to reflect your install.

I think this is the way to go for packages.
The asterisk source install is very nice as it requires an
extra step before you overwrite your configs.
Specially because every howto/source/install refers to
UPGRADE.txt so you can look there what you need to change.
(yes, this is even doable for 1.0->1.4 upgrades, I just did
that last friday on a couple of production boxen)

Just my 0.02 [(eur)|(usd)]
-- 

Michiel van Baak
michiel at vanbaak.eu
http://michiel.vanbaak.eu
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"Why is it drug addicts and computer afficionados are both called users?"