[asterisk-users] app_sms testers required

Kevin P. Fleming kpfleming at digium.com
Fri Aug 26 14:51:25 CDT 2011


On 08/26/2011 09:29 AM, David Woodhouse wrote:
> There are three problems with app_sms in Asterisk 1.8.5.0:
>
>   - It fails to initialise a 'flags' variable and ends up sending with
>     protocol 2 in some cases when it shouldn't, which obviously fails.
>
>   - The smsq tool fails to install its call file into the outgoing queue
>     in a way that Asterisk will see it.
>
>   - If disconnect supervision isn't functioning or inbanddisconnect=yes
>     is set in chan_dahdi.conf, it will keep bitching about 'bad stop bit'
>     over and over again, without even a newline at the end of the
>     message, even when we *told* the peer to go away by sending a REL
>     message.
>
> These issues are all fixed with the patch in
> https://issues.asterisk.org/jira/browse/ASTERISK-18331
>
> Apparently we need a popularity contest even for the obviously-correct
> parts of the above which have been reported elsewhere¹ in the bug
> tracking system but ignored. So if any users of app_sms could test the
> patch and confirm that it works for them, it would be massively
> appreciated. And would reduce the chances of me getting too frustrated
> with Asterisk and spending my time helping out with other projects which
> will appreciate it more.

That's pretty harsh, David. This has nothing to do with lack of 
appreciation, and everything to do with a limited set of developer 
resources and a *massive* pile of issues to deal with.

As far as the team of people that Digium employs, the issues they work 
on are selected by using a process in our department that emphasizes 
'return on investment'; a combination of the 'value to the community' of 
the issue being addressed and the amount of effort it is likely to 
consume. I hope you'd agree that spending time on issues that affect a 
large percentage of the user community, even if they take a longer 
period of time, is a better choice than addressing (possibly many) quick 
issues that don't affect a significant portion of the user community. 
Yes, every issue affects *someone* in the user community, and for them, 
it's important. However, I'd ask you to look over the ChangeLogs for the 
last few releases, for work that was done by the Digium developers, and 
point out anything you feel provided less value to the community than 
fixing problems in app_sms.

There are still quite a few community developers actively working on 
Asterisk, and of course they are free to help move your issues along. In 
addition, if you are willing to be the 'maintainer' for the areas of 
Asterisk that interest you, that option is open as well. It's always 
better for the community as a whole if there are people with direct 
interest in specific modules/applications/etc. who are maintaining them.

-- 
Kevin P. Fleming
Digium, Inc. | Director of Software Technologies
Jabber: kfleming at digium.com | SIP: kpfleming at digium.com | Skype: kpfleming
445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA
Check us out at www.digium.com & www.asterisk.org



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