GNUCOMM

★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://www.gnu.org/software/gnucomm/gnucomm.html

Introduction to GNUCOMM
The GNUCOMM Roadmap
Get the Software
Join the Discussion on the Mailing List
CVS Access
Contact Info

Introduction to GNUCOMM

The GNUCOMM project will provide the standards-based free software necessary to enable the switching and transception of multimedia streams for use in telecommunications applications such as voicemail and video conferencing. The goal is not just to provide a replacement for proprietary telecommunications servers and clients. The goal is to provide better solutions to common telecommunications problems.

At a high-level, examples of the functionality that GNUCOMM will be capable of include:

Voice Response applications, i.e. menus, screen pop, transactions, etc.
Messaging, i.e. Voicemail, Paging, SMS, etc.
Switching and Routing of converged voice/data services.
Conferencing, including video conferencing and directory lookup.
More...

On a slightly lower level, the applications that handle these multimedia streams will carry out a number of tasks: messaging, switching, bridging, notification, interactive response, discovery, and conferencing. These tasks will be enabled by a set of cooperating processes.

In support of the GNUCOMM applications, a number of protocol stacks and conversion engines will be required. Commodity protocols and data formats will be the focus of development.

GNUCOMM will interoperate with the rest of the GNU System, including GNU Enterprise. Drivers for required hardware will be supported by GNUCOMM and added to the HURD.

Roadmap

The GNUCOMM roadmap is still in it's nascent stages. However, the coordinator takes a pragmatic point of view. We want to establish a fully functioning system pronto. This will provide us with the invaluable input of users, and will help developers to get involved as well. Fortunately, this is possible using existing free software. Goals have been set around releases of the GNUCOMM, in stages similar to that of software distributions. The first functioning system will become the "stable" development track, and once released, will be incrementally improved. After the first "stable" release, an "unstable" development track will be pursued in parallel. The unstable releases are complete redesigns of the stable system, based on the needs of the system's users and changes in telecommunications technology. A number of lively debates will likely ensue regarding the system design :).

GNUCOMM 0.1 - A functional communications sytem

Voice Response System - Done
Fax Server - TBD
VOIP Client - TBD
SMS Server - TBD
Small Business scripts - TBD
Packaging and Documentation - TBD

GNUCOMM 1.0 - A new architecture

Functional Spec - June 2000

Get the Software

The GNUCOMM project has had the following software contributed:

ACS - Multi-line telecommunications server, and Bayonne - The redesigned successor to ACS.

Many more programs useful to this project are available under the GPL. Programs will continually be added to the project to fill gaps in the functionality of the system. If you would like to see a program added to GNUCOMM, bring it up on the mailing list.

Mailing Lists

The canonical set of GNU mailing lists have been set up for GNUCOMM:

bug-gnucomm is the developers list: <bug-gnucomm@gnu.org>. Subscribe to this list by sending the word "subscribe" in the body of an otherwise empty message to <bug-gnucomm-request@gnu.org>.

help-gnucomm is the users list: <help-gnucomm@gnu.org>. Subscribe to this list by sending the word "subscribe" in the body of an otherwise empty message to <help-gnucomm-request@gnu.org>.

info-gnucomm is the moderated announcements list: <info-gnucomm@gnu.org>. Subscribe to this list by sending the word "subscribe" in the body of an otherwise empty message to <info-gnucomm-request@gnu.org>.

CVS Access

Anonymous cvs access to the GNUCOMM CVS repository is not yet available.
Directions for accessing the GNUCOMM CVS repository will be posted as soon as it is established.

Contact information

The current coordinator for the project is <rsb@ostel.com>

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Last updated: May 16, 2000