[asterisk-dev] Proposed removal of deprecated modules in Asterisk 13 (cdr_sqlite, chan_gtalk, chan_jingle, res_jabber, chan_h323, app_readfile, app_dahdibarge, app_setcallerid, app_saycountpl)

[Matthew Jordan]

The following modules are currently deprecated in trunk. This e-mail
is a proposal to remove them from trunk in preparation for Asterisk
13. All of these modules have been deprecated for at least two release
cycles (the one they were deprecated in initially, +1 additional
release). Rationale for their removal is below:

* cdr_sqlite - deprecated in Asterisk 1.8 in favour of
cdr_sqlite3_custom. Note that this particular module caused some
serious crashes for users of PBXInAFlash due to some confusion about
the different SQLite databases that were available (SQLite !=
SQLite3). Since this deprecated module has caused active harm, it
should be removed to prevent further issues.

* chan_gtalk/chan_jingle/res_jabber - deprecated in Asterisk 11.
Maintenance of channel drivers extends beyond 'normal bugs' - changes
to media formats to improve Asterisk core performance have required a
major investment in the various channel drivers as well. Each channel
driver requires testing to ensure that re-architecture does not break
it - when those channel drivers are deprecated and have a complete
replacement (chan_motif/res_xmpp), this effort is wasted. Going
forward, we should not continue to re-invest in deprecated channel
drivers when attempting to improve the Asterisk core.

* chan_h323 - we have a well maintained replacement channel driver in
the form of chan_ooh323 (thank you Alexander Anikin!) Having multiple
H323 channel drivers when one is completely unmaintained and the other
receives excellent maintenance is a little crazy. Again, core
architecture changes require modifications to this channel driver as
well, resulting in more testing + time spent on something that people
are better off not using (maintained > unmaintained).

* app_readfile/app_dahdibarge/app_setcallerid/app_saycountpl -
deprecated in Asterisk 1.8. While less important than the other
previously listed modules, having been deprecated for 2 LTS's, it is
probably time for these module to go.

Comments welcome, but if you feel like one of these modules should
persist into Asterisk 13, please provide a strong rationale for its
continued inclusion. In particular, if you feel a module should *not*
be deprecated and continue to persist in Asterisk, than volunteering
as a module maintainer for said module [1] would be hugely
appreciated.

Thanks!

Matt

[1] https://wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/display/AST/Asterisk+Open+Source+Maintainers

-- 
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