[asterisk-ss7] SMS,MMS, SS7 and wrong approach to

Sun Nov 9 03:35:53 CST 2008

Hello Anton,

You write that chan_ss7 is intentionally filled with bugs, and you mention one 
bug, about the one way audio problem, that you have reported to this mailling 
list. In a mail to this list, dated 2008-09-15, you write:

> I have to note that a while ago one edge of the problem was 
> in IAX connections between systems - so IAX was giving 
> oneway for a certin amount of calls - and switching to SIP 
> resoved it - but now it might be just chan_ss7 related.

If both IAX and chan_ss7 gives one way audio, the problem could be somewhere 
else. I do not understand why you think this is a bug _intentionally_ left in 
chan_ss7.

You write that we have not included the patch published on this list for 
support of zaptel new style addressing. But there has been support for this 
since version 1.0.0, released november 2007. I am not aware of any problem 
with this, and I am not aware of any patches that solve bugs that are not 
already fixed in the released versions of chan_ss7. I do not understand why 
you think that the patch is _intentionally_ left out.

Your accusation that we intentionally leave bugs and charge people excessive 
amount of money to fix them, is simply not true. I receive very few real bug 
reports, and I do not see many bug reports on this mailing list. chan_ss7 is 
stable and used in production by really many users around the world.

In december 2007 I had email correspondance with you where you asks for help 
to setup an 8 E1 server. I send you an offer with my best estimates at that 
time (2-4 hours for code changes, optionally 5-8 hours if you wants us to log 
in to your system and install/configure/test the solution, 170 Euro/hour). 
This is considerably more work than changing two lines of code. I do not 
understand why you write that we charge you 2000 Euro for two lines of code.

You write that Dicea is breaking existing licenses. We obviously will not do 
anything not legal, or not comply with existing licenses. chan_ss7 comes with 
GPL license, and the supported version comes with the same license. The 
purpose of offering a supported version is to provide professional support for 
the users that want it, and to finance Diceas continued development of
chan_ss7. The work we do on chan_ss7 is mainly due to personal interest, but 
we want to have the work partly financed.

The mail you sent to this mailing list is your response to somebody
noting that Dicea has an SMS solution. We sell support and SS7 related
software products, this also helps finance the effort put into
chan_ss7. As a user, you are also benefitting from this business model.

I have maintained chan_ss7 for several years, and I have got a lot of positive 
feed back from users. There are a few exceptions like you.

I hope this mail clears the issues raised. 

Best regards,

-- 
Anders Baekgaard
Managing Director, Dicea ApS
Esromgade 15, 1110
DK-2200 Copenhagen N
Denmark
Tel: +45 46931411
Fax: +45 46931466
Mobile: +45 20771844

On Friday 07 November 2008, Anton wrote:
> DICEA "supports" chan_ss7 in a very bad way. There is
> a "FIXED" version of it, and free version INTENTIONALLY
> filled and left with bugs in different places. One of
> the "intentional" bugs - accidental one way audio after a
> while if usage on certain CIC's , another - improper
> attaching to the /dev/zap and improper asiggn of the
> variable value in case of someone would want to use zaptel
> new style zap addressing (though very simple for anyone
> with basic C knowledge to fix, patch was provide in the
> list a long ago) - so it becomes clear that that pieces of
> code were left intentionally wrong to keep certain number
> of users out from the functionality they need, and trying
> to force them for commercial support (for changing those 2
> lines of code they asked me for ~2000Euro for human labour)
> I did not do detail analysis of the code, but since there
> are already such an approach - I afraid there is more black
> holes and undiscovered bugs. Instead of making profit on
> proper support of the users, they prefer to release broken
> version and make money on those who tired from bugs, they
> discover while using, and leave the code intentionally not
> broken.
>
> It's already questionable if DICEA doing this legally
> correct: this may be only legally correct if they got
> (purchased or whatever) from SIFIRA, otherwise they even
> break GPL. Further more, they use parts of ZAPTEL code
> (echo cancel, jitter and maybe something else) -
> considering this - it's clear GPL breakage - in the view of
> releasing "closed" version of chan_ss7.
> Would be good to see their response on the said above, but
> in fact they very rarely respond at all, even concerning
> discovered bugs - since they do not intend to fix them.
>
> The best way would be to fully switch to libss7, and improve
> it to add missing functionality. I personally now testing
> libss7 and if satisfied with stability and performance will
> switch all my links over to it form chan_ss7
>
> ------
>
> From DICEA site:
>
> chan_ss7 premium
>
> Dicea offers a premium version of chan_ss7 that include
> commercial support. This version differs from the free
> download version by having a large number of stability
> fixes and enhancements
>
> Specification
>
>     * Compatible with Asterisk 1.2.x and 1.4.x
>     * Compatible with Dahdi
>     * Compatible with Ubuntu/Debian/Redhat/Fedora/Mandriva
> 32 and 64 bit versions
>     * Supports clusters with more than 4 E1s
>     * Supports multiple signalling links
>     * Supports load sharing across linksets
>     * Supports STP signalling
>
> On Thursday 06 November 2008 19:40, Krzysztof Drewicz wrote:
> > 2008/11/6 Steve Kennedy <steve-asterisk at gbnet.net>
> >
> > > >    how can chan_ss7 be used for sending SMS or MMS,
> > > > is this doable? Thanks in advance.
> > >
> > > Someone needs to port the MAP protocol stack and other
> > > bits.
> >
> > I Think that Dicea has done it, only it's not
> > opensource/not free:
> >
> > http://www.dicea.dk/company/app_sms_ss7
> >
> > kd,
>
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