GNU Bayonne 1.2

GNU Bayonne is the telecommunications application server of the GNU Project. With the introduction of embedded SQL support, we are now actually close to having what I hope will be a new stable Bayonne base release, 1.2. Ideally, I would like to introduce a 1.2 release in late January, around the time of LinuxWorld in NYC. However, there are a number of specific things that I think need to happen before we can do a 1.2 release.

First, we need to update the documentation for GNU Bayonne. The documentation was never entirely complete or fully accurate even for the 1.0 release, and certainly is obsolete at this point. Documentation completion depends to some extent on feature completion, but the question of what a feature complete 1.2 server will be is now at least close to finalized. Does anyone wish to come forward to help on that?

In terms of remaining features for the 1.2 server, now that server embedded SQL support has been introduced, there is only a few immediate/short-term goals I have left. These include restructuring of existing RPC services, and the ability to support telephony enabled web services through Bayonne scripting. With this, and further work on GNU Bayonne XML parsing, it will become much easier to use GNU Bayonne to telephony enable existing web services and web hosted applications. This, hopefully, will be the last noticeable server feature change, other than driver work.

Speaking of driver work, there are issues in existing drivers, and some new/incomplete drivers that need to be finished. The capi driver either needs to be actively maintained, or I will rewrite it so I can maintain it. I do not have much hope to have time to look at the oh323, vmodem, zapata, or brooktrout drivers before spring, unless others choose to come forward to work on those. Hence, I do not expect any new drivers to be introduced with 1.2, at least at this point.

Current 1.1 development releases have been meant to test and integrate new features into GNU Bayonne, and to experiment with new or altered features from the normal 1.0 stable releases we currently maintain. The resulting 1.2 release will offer a new stable GNU application telephony platform that will be usable for building complete telephone systems, to better telephony enable web services, and to provide a reference platform for several unannounced projects already underway.

If you wish to help with GNU Bayonne development, feel free to contact me directly at the address above. We also have an ambitious schedule and at least one new person who will be available to travel and speak about GNU Bayonne at events around the world. We are looking for travel sponsorship so we can have GNU Bayonne presentations in at least as many events next year as we were able to do this current year. Finally, we will be introducing a project starting in the Republic of Macedonia to develop GNU Bayonne as a platform to deliver e-government services to the blind and we are actively seeking further sponsorship for that effort as well.