User guide

The approach we are taking in this short guide is not to include a listing of all possible commands but
rather to walk through three basic scenarios where Asterisk is used. We are intentionally keeping
things as simple as possible. We are aware of that the included examples can be solved in many
different ways, so do not hesitate to experiment yourself.
6.1 Compiling Asterisk
As with much other free software, there are two methods to get Asterisk working in your computer.
The first method is to download and compile Asterisk from the its source code. The second method is
to download pre-compiled packages. If you decide to compile Asterisk from the source the following
tips can facilitate your work:
• Download Asterisk source code from http://www.asterisk.org
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• For the basic configurations, you do not need the “add ons” or “music” packages
• Asterisk source code requires other software in your system to compile. Ensure that you have
the following packages installed in your system:
• bison (a parser generator)
• zlib and zlib-devel (compression library – development)
• openssl and openssl-dev (libssl-dev) (SSL - development libraries)
• libc6-dev (GNU C development library and headers)
• gcc and make (The C compiler and the make utility)
Compiling Asterisk is not different from other free Linux software:
To compile: # make
To install: # make install
To install the start up scripts: # make config
To install default (samples) configuration files: # make samples
If you plan to use a Digium Wildcard(tm) Interface with Asterisk , you will need to compile and install
the zaptel kernel module device driver for your card.
• Download the Zaptel source code from http://www.asterisk.org . Unfortunately, the Zaptel driver
module is not part of the Linux kernel, so you will need to build the modules yourself.
• Ensure that you have the kernel headers package installed in your system
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29. As November 2007, Asterisk latest 1.2.x release is 1.2.24. Latest driver version for the family of Zapata cards is 1.2.20
30. You can check the kernel version of your system using the command # uname -a. For example for a mini-ITX (x386) system
running Ubuntu Dapper, install the following headers linux-headers-2.6.15-25-386
Page 21 TRICALCAR | www.wilac.net/tricalcar – Version: February 2008