[asterisk-users] ConfBridge versus MeetMe

[Joshua Colp]

----- "David Backeberg" <dbackeberg at gmail.com> wrote:

> Formerly on a thread called [asterisk-dev] Where to find the code of
> application Bridge
> 
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 7:38 AM, Tzafrir Cohen
> <tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com> wrote:
> >> Can someone please tell me in which file the code for the
> application to
> >> be found? I was not able to find a file named app_bridge.c in the
> folder
> >> apps.
> >
> > app_bridge.c ? app_confbridge.c ? What are you looking for,
> exactly?
> >
> > The apps folder:
> >
> >  http://svn.digium.com/svn/asterisk/trunk/apps/
> 
> So I have a question with regard to app_confbridge, which provides an
> application called ConfBridge.
> 
> I did find a bug here that discusses bridging and confbridge, but not
> really what I wanted to know:
> http://bugs.digium.com/view.php?id=14389
> 
> Is there a good bug discussing the story behind the differences of
> ConfBridge and MeetMe, or where it came from, or if I'm right that
> ConfBridge is a new approach to MeetMe?

There is no bug because it wasn't really driven out of a bug being present. Development of it
was driven by the internal way we bridge channels together and how it isn't flexible for what
we really need. Let me explain a bit about each application.

MeetMe as you know is a conferencing application that requires DAHDI. It doesn't just require
DAHDI because of timing it also requires it because the actual conferencing engine/mixing takes
place inside of DAHDI itself. Rewriting MeetMe not to use DAHDI would essentially be writing
a new application.

ConfBridge is a conferencing application that uses a new internal architecture for developers. The application
itself is basically a user of the architecture and provides some additional outside capabilities like an IVR menu,
join/leave sounds, etc. The actual mixing is done underneath in the architecture's core by a separate Asterisk module.

I originally wrote ConfBridge as a test application of the architecture but in the end it just made sense to
continue development on it and make it available as many individuals wanted a conferencing application that did not
require DAHDI and it was simple to maintain.

> What's the best way for me to be able to play with ConfBridge? Do I
> need to pull down trunk and build that? I just took a look through
> 1.6.1.0 for app_confbridge.c and it's not there, so perhaps this will
> be going into 1.6.2.*

If you would like to give it a test it is already available in 1.6.2 and the documentation for it available by
typing "core show application ConfBridge".

-- 
Joshua Colp
Digium, Inc. | Software Developer
445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA
Check us out at:  www.digium.com  & www.asterisk.org