[asterisk-users] Proposed changes to Asterisk release and support cycles

Tue Jan 31 14:52:52 CST 2012

> I like the idea of LTR release more often that would have the feature 
> patches baked in.  Case in point the new conference app requires a 
> jump to version 10 while the 1.8 conference app is quite useless but 
> 1.8 is my LTR version so I am stuck without the conference app in my 
> mainline systems for two years. 

Well said!  This is also true of any type of long term supported release 
whether if it's an operating system, application, etc.  In the "LTS" 
name, it conjurs up thoughts of Ubuntu, but comparisons to RHEL/Fedora 
are far more appropriate I would think as Ubuntu focuses nearly 
exclusively on new point releases while backporting new features is what 
a company like Red Hat excels at and should be the prime example of how 
to run dual software channels (enterprise release in RHEL vs. hobby 
release in Fedora).

Red Hat works so well for server systems because features are regularly 
backported with a *huge* emphasis on never breaking abi or build 
environments.  So far there really hasn't been a lot of noticeable 
features backported to 1.8.x that I'm aware of, but then again 10 is the 
first release after 1.8.

Generally, if there isn't a lot of support in maintaining a long term 
release, then it turns into merely a "old release that occasionally has 
quality security updates".   This is a perfectly valid approach too, but 
so far Digium's use of "LTS" doesn't really clarify clearly to me which 
type they are meaning to confer: 1) release that will stay static for 
its entire release sans security updates or 2) release that will stay 
compatible throughout the software's life time while occasionally having 
features backported with development funded from paying clients with 
support contracts.

It should also be said that the long term release really isn't the 
appropriate place to debut new technology.  If you absolutely require 
the newest stuff that Digium produces, regardless of their LTS paradigm, 
the LTS release probably isn't meant for you.  Using the RHEL/Fedora 
example of earlier, RHEL's backports only come through around once a 
year during the point releases.  Anything more would be chaotic and 
against the notions of a long term supported release.  Fedora gets new 
stuff every 6 months, freshly baked with some stuff just not working all 
that well.

I know distros and applications are two fundamentally different things, 
with entirely different goals and requirements, but I still think Red 
Hat provides the best example because 1) they have turned it into a 
science how smooth their development process goes in ratio to satisfied 
customers and 2) it's the only other open source software project I can 
think of that can accurately compare.  In a past meeting I had with 
Digium while working for another company, they too directly drew a 
correlation between the new LTS idea and ubuntu lts/non-lts and rhel/fedora.

The conference app changes since 1.4 I haven't been thrilled with, but 
in the whole time I've been supporting 1.8.x for my customers, I've come 
up with a very stable solution building on it and I haven't had any 
surprises come my way.

But think back before 1.8.x and Digium's plan for LTS:  We lived in a 
world where 1.4 bounced back and forth between "ultra-stable" and 
"whoops, dtmf is completely borked again" largely due to the fact that a 
complete rewrite of various parts of Asterisk would greatly undermine 
projects written specifically for that branch so small fixes netted 
breakage in other parts of the software.  And we also had 1.6.x which 
for 95% of stuff was brilliant, but that other 5% was so crucial that it 
delayed adoption.

Personally, I don't think what Digium is doing is necessarily a perfect 
approach (hey, what is?  we're all human), but they've vastly improved 
the quality of Asterisk from a support perspective.

*John Knight*
Classic City Telco LLC
*Email:* john at classiccitytelco.com *|* *Main:* (706) 995-0200
*Direct:* (706) 995-0201 *|* *Mobile:* (706) 255-9203

On 1/31/2012 2:20 PM, Bryant Zimmerman wrote:
> From my perspective this makes a lot more sense than the current 
> cycle. My big issue is with patches that have new features. Not having 
> them in a trunk released version adds a lot of issues trying to 
> support them in house. I like the idea of LTR release more often that 
> would have the feature patches baked in.  Case in point the new 
> conference app requires a jump to version 10 while the 1.8 conference 
> app is quite useless but 1.8 is my LTR version so I am stuck without 
> the conference app in my mainline systems for two years.  This new 
> method would reduce the time for situations like this.  This is the 
> same with the F option in faxReceive as well.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bryant Zimmerman (ZK Tech Inc.)
> 616-855-1030 Ext. 2003
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From*: "Kevin P. Fleming" <kpfleming at digium.com>
> *Sent*: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 12:36 PM
> *To*: "Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion" 
> <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
> *Subject*: [asterisk-users] Proposed changes to Asterisk release and 
> support cycles
>
> I've created a page on wiki.asterisk.org outlining some changes we're
> proposing to make to the Asterisk release and support cycles. As always,
> before implementing any changes of this type, we'd like to collect some
> community feedback on the proposal.
>
> The page is here:
> https://wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/x/5ggiAQ
>
> Feel free to comment here, or on the page itself if you find any errors
> or inconsistencies in the page's content.
>
> -- 
> 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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