Re: Linux's timerfd API

[jnemeth%victoria.tc.ca@localhost (John Nemeth)]

On Feb 13, 12:24pm, Brian Buhrow wrote:
} 
}       Hello John.  I've been working my schedule around to see if I can help
} with the porting of the dahdi stuff.  I've got the zaptel code running

     That would definitely be nice.

} under NetBSD-5 with multiprocessor support, and it works quite well.  I say

     I pretty much ignored zaptel since it doesn't work with modern
Asterisk.  But, if you have something that works and you want to
contribute it, we can look at updating comms/zaptel-netbsd after the
freeze.  But, once we have a reliable DAHDI implementation, I'll kill
all the old Asterisk stuff.  Asterisk 1.2 is going EOL on Nov. 21st.

} that to  say that having done that work, I feel more confident in my
} ability to make dahdi work.

    I started poking at it, but it's rather slow going since just about
every needed OS interface is different between FreeBSD and NetBSD.  It
means learning a fair bit about both kernels.

}       In terms of the timerfd interface from Linux, I considered it, but
} since the documentation from the version of Asterisk I looked at seemed to

     What version was that?

} imply that this was not a reliable timing sorce, and the code was not well
} tested, I decided I didn't want to go to the trouble.

     I'm basically still in the initial investigating stage.

     Asterisk can use the pthread timing module on NetBSD, but they
basically abuse pthreads and it doesn't work very well.  I.e. with the
pthread timing module loaded, IAX streams get really choppy.

}       If someone wants to step up to the timerfd plate and they need a
} tester, I'm willing to do that.
} 
} On Sep 23,  5:38pm, John Nemeth wrote:
} }
} }      Is anybody famailiar with Linux's timerfd API (see
} } http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/online/pages/man2/timerfd_create.2.html 
).
} } I was wondering if people think this is a good idea and/or what it
} } would take to implement it in NetBSD.
} } 
} }      The reason why I'm interested in it is that newer versions
} } Asterisk can use it to provide timing for mixing streams for a
} } conference bridge.  Currently, there is no way to do any sort
} } conferencing using Asterisk on NetBSD.
} } 
} }      The other way that Asterisk does timing is to use a timer device
} } that is part of DAHDI (Asterisk's hardware driver).  You can use
} } external boxes that use SIP to communicate with Asterisk in order to
} } connect physical phone lines, so the lack of DAHDI support in NetBSD
} } isn't a show-stopper.  But, the lack of conferencing support is a
} } fairly major limitation.  Adding DAHDI support to NetBSD is still on my
} } project list, but this API could make a nice addition in the meantime.
} } 
} }      For those that don't know, Asterisk is an open source VOIP PBX.
} >-- End of excerpt from John Nemeth
}-- End of excerpt from Brian Buhrow