OS : Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
OS Kernel : 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-2712
Asterisk : 22.5.2+asl3-3.6.2-1.deb12
ASL [app_rpt] : 3.6.2
Inquiry
Running ASL3 on a Raspberry Pi5 with an NVME. It was working fine. Completed an in-place upgrade from Debian12 to 13. After the upgrade, one of my applications was not running well on 13. Decided to start over. Formatted the NVME, reinstalled Raspi OS Debian 12 minimal 64 bit edition, and reinstalled Allstarlink 3.
While setting up the node, the Interface Tune CLI settings cannot be saved. I accessed through ASL-menu and by directly launching the application. Restarted asterisk, rebooted the system, and completely shutdown and restarted the system. Nothing is working. When I restart asterisk, then reopen the Interface Tune CLI application, all settings have been returned to default settings.
Reading through the forums I see a lot of issues related to file permissions. For the ASL3 devs, please keep in mind we are only running a radio system. We are not running the back end for J.P. Morgan. We don’t need Fort Knox style security for what we are doing. I tried to like ASL3, I really did. I gave it several several months. However I ended up going back to HamVoip because newer doesn’t necessarily mean better. HamVoip is rock solid. Everything that’s supposed to work does. For example, I can’t do reverse autopatch, on ASL3, because you all didn’t see fit to include call park. That’s just one example. Technically ASL3 still has so many bugs that it should still be considered a beta rather than a final version. Plus, when someone does report a bug, the devs act like there was no way they could have ever made a mistake. The Echolink audio fiasco was the last straw for me. It damn near took an act of Congress for the ASL3 devs to realize that they actually screwed something up. They kept trying to save face and reflect the blame back to the end user. I’ll check back with you all, in another 5 years, to see if you finally got your act together.
Thanks again for the link explaining the new user strategy for Allstarlink. The referenced webpage explains the strategy, but it isn't clear to me how to manage in this new environment, using the Asterisk user. I have been using Raspi OS and Debian for many years, but not in a multiuser environment.
It would be helpful to understand how to manage in this new environment. Is there an overview of the approach one would use to edit and save the files within this new environment? When looking at the permissions, what would one expect to see? What changes would be required to those permissions to allow the user make the required edits, specifically relating to "Interface Tune CLI" settings?
It's obvious that you are frustrated because you have been unable to learn some slight changes to operational practices for a modern OS / applications. Old dog, new tricks...
The ASL contributors are not the ones that designed or implemented basic file permissions systems that are in place on modern operating systems such as Debian 12 / 13. They are not even the ones making updates to the Asterisk PBX to do things like give the Asterisk process it's own non-root user.
What they did do, is manage to port app_rpt to something from this century where it can actually be maintained and improved.
Good people devote their time and energy into contributing to a community project for the benefit of others - and then people like you come along. It's no wonder why open source developers regularly get burnt out and give up.
Jim Dixon would say to dwh367. You whine like a baby. Should have asked for help, if you didn’t understand.
I have been with AllStarlink pretty much from the start. I still have the hand built board that Jim and Steve gave me. Go and hangout with Doug “RipOff” Crompton over at HamVoip.
Now, after everyone has had a chance to !@#$, let's see if we can return our focus to the reported issue/question.
With the focus on the "Interface Tune CLI" settings there are a couple of issues in play.
The "asterisk" process needs to be able to read the configuration. Here, it doesn't matter who (what login/user) "owns" the file but if it's not the "asterisk" user then the permissions need to be set so that they can be read by other logins.
The "Interface Tune CLI" commands actually interact with the "asterisk" process to make any changes. As such, the "asterisk" process needs to be able to write to the configuration file. Here, we're looking at the write permissions on the file (and possibly the write permissions on the directory). You also need to remember that the "asterisk" process is running as the "asterisk" login/user.
Lastly, there are some settings in the configuration files that are not manipulated by the "Interface Tune CLI" commands. For these settings, you would need to make your own edits and to do that you would need read/write permissions.
Earlier, I showed the following output from one of my systems :
$ ls -ld /etc/asterisk /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf
drwxr-xr-x 5 asterisk asterisk 12288 Nov 7 20:26 /etc/asterisk
-rw-r--r-- 1 asterisk asterisk 5780 Nov 7 20:24 /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf
This reflects the configuration directory/file permissions on a standard ASL3 system. The /etc/asterisk directory and configuration files are setup with the "asterisk" login/user owning the files. That removes any issues with the "asterisk" process being able to read/write the files and takes care of #1 and #2.
For #3, most people will use their favorite editor to make changes. But, because they are would not be logged in as the "asterisk" login/user they need to elevate their privileges ... and that's where the sudo command comes into play. When you exec :
sudo nano /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf
you are saying "I want to edit the file with the privileges of the super-user".
Are you still having issues? If so, what is the output from the ls -ld /etc/asterisk /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf command on your system?
I have been playing around with it this afternoon and this evening. Was able to directly edit the simpleusb.conf file, but in the process have lost confidence my changes and the integrity of this installation. I will try reinstalling, and report back when I have an update. I appreciate your extensive reply and detailed information.
If I have the proper documentation, I rarely have to ask to help. That’s another point of contention. The documentation isn’t keeping up with the release cycle. I currently don’t have access to my crystal ball as it’s in the shop being recalibrated.
Here, we noticed the /etc/asterisk/custom and /etc/asterisk/custom/simpleusb directories were owned by the "root" user. To save the new "Interface Tune CLI" settings the "asterisk" process needs to update some of the configuration files. In this case, and because of a quirk in the Asterisk configuration APIs, the code was trying to update /etc/asterisk/custom/simpleusb/AllScan-UCI.conf. In order to save the .conf file the process needs to have write privilege to the directory and was blocked by the directory permissions.
