[asterisk-dev] Asterisk 11 configuration files

[Matthew Jordan]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tilghman Lesher" <tilghman at meg.abyt.es>
> To: "Asterisk Developers Mailing List" <asterisk-dev at lists.digium.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 10:56:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-dev] Asterisk 11 configuration files
>
> 
> It's additionally worth noting that several modules have multiple
> configuration file names, e.g. queues.conf & queuerules.conf,
> sip.conf
> & sip_notify.conf, iax.conf & iaxprov.conf.  You cannot go with a
> standard of naming configuration files based upon their module names
> AND BE CONSISTENT, if some modules have more than one standard
> configuration file.
> 
> I agree with Leif, we probably shouldn't be naming configuration
> files
> by their module names, and this is just one more reason.
> 

Playing devil's advocate here... what would happen if we did what
Steve suggested and wrote a new voicemail module?  Say, res_voicemail?

There's a good chance that we'd want to get away from the configuration
scheme that app_voicemail currently uses, i.e., defining voicemail
user mailboxes as a single key/value pair.  More likely, we'd want to
use context templates to allow administrator's to define voicemail
users.  That radically changes how the voicemail configuration file is
parsed and interpreted.

In an ideal situation, you may want res_voicemail to support both its
new configuration scheme as well as the old one.  While this would entail
having two sets of configuration parsing routines to map the different
schemes onto the same in-memory object, it would allow a "cleaner" upgrade
path, allowing system administrators to move from Asterisk x to Asterisk y
without having to completely abandon their config files.  They'd get to
maintain their old configuration, and could slowly move to the new
configuration (with whatever new bells and whistles it provides) slowly.
You could even have a 'dump your in memory objects in new configuration
format' to help them out.

Allowing a 'side-by-side' configuration is possible if the
configuration files are named using the module names; it becomes next
to impossible if the configuration names have to be maintained.

Mandating that any voicemail related module should use a configuration
file named 'voicemail.conf' locks us into either making significant breaking
changes, or having to use configuration schemes that are not ideal for new
modules.

--
Matthew Jordan
Digium, Inc. | Engineering Manager
445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA
Check us out at: http://digium.com & http://asterisk.org