[Asterisk-doc] Weekly Asterisk Conference Summary

[Leif Madsen]

After a few headaches with my VoIP phone, Jeremy very kindly got me =
access
via the PSTN (I'm in Canada).  Thanks again to Jeremy and NuFone for =
hosting
the conference for us this week.

We had quite a good little turn out tonight!  I would say we had =
somewhere
in the neighborhood of around 5-6 people at any given time.  =
Unfortunately
we didn't record the conference tonight, but maybe next week we will.  =
And
with that, I'm going to try and remember everything we talked about =
tonight.

[For historical purposes - if found in the archives, this may not be the
most recent way to connect to the conference.  Please see
http://www.asteriskdocs.org for information about the current weeks
conference

This weeks conference:  Wednesday, May 26th @ 19:00 hrs EST (-0500 GMT
(1400Z)) :: Thanks to NuFone -- PSTN: 877-677-9648 room 4569 IAX2:
IAX2/asterisk@switch-1.nufone.net/4569 ]

*** Introductions

	We had some new people who actually just found us in the last few
days, which mean that we're getting noticed.  This is good, as we could =
use
all the help we can get.

*** History of the project

	Because we had some new comers and I thought it would be appropriate
to talk about how the project came together.  Some history of how it =
started
and how the project generally works technically (CVS, DocBook, etc..) =
was
discussed.  Some information about why the project was stalled for about =
4
months and how it seems we're back on track.

*** What happened this week?

	Talk of the new website backend and front-end (worked on by Angelo,
Jared and Greg) and how we've been trying to get organized.  Some great
outlines by Jared on chapter 4 and how I've been attempting to expand =
upon
them.

*** A call for more writers!

	Explained how I'm no Asterisk guru and how we need more submissions
from the community.  Sounded like there was some interest from a couple =
of
the new people to pick sections out of the book and write something up =
and
submit it to the list.

*** Talk of another Asterisk book being published.

	There was mention of a book that is currently being worked on and
published.  Here follows a posting by Mark on the Asterisk-users list =
which
was read in the conference:

> "(5-6-2004)Mark Spencer wrote:
>=20
> As you all know, one of the biggest criticisms of Asterisk has been =
the
> lack of documentation.
>
> Paul Mahler of Signate has taken the initiative and is writing an
> introductory guide to Asterisk that Digium plans to help publish.
>
> This is a guide for beginners, not for gurus. I would like to see the
> community help Paul in his efforts to help document Asterisk and make =
it
> easier for someone to start using.=A0 In order to do so, we need =
reviewers
> who can help us make sure it is properly organized, provides =
sufficient
> coverage, and is technically correct. We would like to finish this =
work in
> the next few weeks.=A0 It would be great if we could get half a dozen =
or so
> Asterisk experts to give Paul a hand."

Personally I'd like to see more attention given to our project, but I
suppose I understand as we've been a bit stale over the last couple of
months.

*** How to keep documentation up to date with the progress of Asterisk

	A good suggestion (by William Suffill I believe) to take all the CVS
logs that are posted to asterisk-cvs and strip all the coding and post =
the
comments / documentation by the coders to the Asterisk-doc mailing list =
once
a week was agreed upon for test purposes.  A small utility will be =
written
that will automate this process over the next week or so.  The idea is =
to
keep the book as up to date as possible while not requiring any authors =
to
search for the information, and not impacting the work of the coders.  =
The
problem that is found in keeping documentation up to date with the =
feature
and bug fixes in Asterisk code is that there is little to no =
communication
between the developers and the documenters.  The easiest solution seems =
to
be stripping the code from the asterisk-cvs logs list.

An idea that came up that is at least worth mentioning is while people =
code
that they could possibly add certain key words for our filter that help
explain changes in the code.  If all new patches contained these key =
words
and help explain changes, such as why a variable was changed, added or
removed, or explains a new application (I believe this is already done =
in
the configuration files a bit... that may be a good source of filtering)

Supaplex suggested some words such as 'new feature' 'changed feature' =
'conf
file syntax changes/update' 'depreciated info' etc.. etc..=20

*** Sections which need main focus

	Chapters 2, 3 and 4 seem to be the chapters that need the most focus
and building right now.  It seems that the need and the desire for a =
book
which will take a brand new user and walk them through the installation =
of
their first complete Asterisk box is great.  Things specifically =
mentioned
tonight included SIP, IAX, H323, Conferences, initial compiling of the
system with all different Digium hardware (and possible quicknet
documentation in the works), and a couple other things I've forgotten
(really have to record these things... :))

Once we have a solid foundation with the beginning half of the book, we =
can
move into the more advanced topics.  It is hoped that with a solid =
beginning
foundation we will build an army (what else would you call a group of
Asterisk users... a gaggle.... ? :)) of Asterisk users which will help =
us
write the more advanced stages of the book.  At least it is hoped :)

I believe that covers most of the meeting.  It went on for about an =
hour.
I'll try to post a message about the conference a little more in =
advanced
next week.

HOMEWORK! *gasp*

Reply to this email if you are interested in attending these =
conferences.  I
realize that people around the world are subscribed to our list, and not
every time is convenient.  Perhaps if enough people mention days and =
times
that are good for them (please include GMT.  I'm -0500 GMT) we can get a
better idea of when is good for people.

Anyone who was attending the meeting tonight and wishes to make =
comments,
feel free!

Thanks,
Real Life Leif Madsen=20
#asterisk-doc (blitzrage)