FreePBX 2.4.0 - It’s Final!

<?php global $user; $custom_field = 'user='.$user->uid.""; ?>

This year is starting out with a real bang for the FreePBX team as we once again come to you with a lot of great enhancements and features on the new 2.4.0 Final Release. It has been an exciting beta program that we officially launched 9 weeks ago and has been tested by over 1300 systems with fantastic feedback from our community.

The list of features, enhancements and bug fixes (most bugs from version 2.3 and prior) is much to long to share with you here but some highlights include:

  • Simultaneous support for Asterisk version 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 (best effort for 1.6 as it is still in beta)
  • New Voicemail Blast Group Module
  • New Language Module
  • Vast improvements and many feature enhancements to Paging and Intercom Module
  • Internal improvements and several new features to Queues Module
  • DUNDi™ Trunk support with automatic dialplan integration
  • Vast improvements to handle Zap Channel Inbound routing and incorporating Zap Channel + CID routing abilities
  • System wide extension and destination registry and automatic conflict and integrity detection
  • New Custom Apps module to integrate custom applications and extensions into the above registries
  • Vast improvements to Devices and Users mode especially around adhoc devices
  • Call Confirmation support for hunt ring strategy in Ring Groups and Follow-Me

And the list goes on! Despite the many new features introduced, there has been a focus on building capabilities to help the administrator maintain internal integrity and detect issues when they occur. This effort started back in version 2.3 when we introduced the Notification Panel in the System Status Dashboard and continues to evolve as we report on more error conditions, and as we introduce more mechanisms such as the Extension and Destination registries and internal integrity checking ability as mentioned above.

So how do you get 2.4.0 onto your system when we told you that you would be able to upgrade your 2.3 systems from Module Admin? After spending all day yesterday writing and testing the upgrade module that will enable this, my family informs me that I will be taking them out to a really expensive restaurant for abandoning them (and not just yesterday!) so I’m holding it up for ransom. Once enough people use the following button we’ll get it out!


Donate

Seriously though … the donations will be much appreciated but the Update Module is on its way and will be published and available on 2.3 systems within a few days. We are delaying it just briefly for two reasons. We are monitoring the conversion rate of 2.4 beta test sites to the final release to make sure there are no issues reported in the last bug fixes that got rolled in since RC1 was released. We are also asking some of the community to beta test the upgrade module to make sure it functions smoothly when we publish it. You can get information in this forum post if you would like to help.

You can also go the traditional route to either upgrade or build new installs by using the standard install and upgrade processes listed in our site's Upgrade Instructions.

If you’ve been following the other activities happening here at FreePBX then you probably did not miss the Open Telephony Training Seminar we have been talking about. We are thrilled at the response we have gotten on this upcoming event which has now completely SOLD OUT more than two weeks before its start date! These lucky participants will be the first to receive formal training based on the 2.4.0 release announced today, including many internal capabilities not always exposed in the GUI interface. We have had many inquiries from would be participants who could not make those dates or were looking for something a little closer to their homes and we are happy to say that we will soon be choosing and organizing the next event to accommodate those requests.

 

With the current training being held in Charleston, South Carolina it is only natural to plan the next event on the other Coast. We have not made any choices but are considering locations like Las Vegas (or just outside to keep the distractions during the event down a bit) or San Diego but we want to hear from you both where and when we should hold this. So feel free to reply and give your feedback to if you are hoping to attend one of our next sessions!

For now, go check out the new 2.4.0 Release and if you like what you see, or want to get the 2.3 to 2.4 Upgrade module out quicker, go press that donate button above to show your support and appreciation for all the great work and hundreds of volunteer hours that have gone into bringing you this new version!

Philippe on behalf of the FreePBX Team!

As mentioned we would be publishing the upgrade module within a few days. Since we have seen almost 700 2.4.0 systems without hearing any issues, and we’ve had a lot of people testing the upgrade module without any reported issues with it, you should be good to go. Check for Online Updates on 2.3, install the new module, go through the few steps and you will have a new and improved 2.4.0 system with everything you had before and LOTS MORE!

As always Philippe thanks for all your hard work. I just updated my system at home and it all went great.

By the way I just clicked that button and sent you a small token of my appreciation and I hope you bring in plenty of donation from the community.

The Willows Inn. This is an open offer, so when you are in town have a really expensive dinner on me. Includes one night stay.

Robert,
that one sounds like we’ll have to take you up on it. I’ll wait until the weather clears up a bit in our neck of the woods as ‘the boss’ would be quite upset if she missed out this time after seeing the pictures from last summer!

But in case anyone is wondering what happened last summer:

FreePBX-athon Abducted by cosmicwombat

Philippe -

I’ve pushed your donate button. Thanks for the hard work and all the innovation in the product!

OK Folks - there have been 3 people on the forum who have given positive feedback on the upgrade module. (not including the few I worked directly with on Saturday). However, there have been dozens of downloads of that module with no feedback at all. If you are one of those dozens - please come back with your feedback!

It work perfect for me.
Thanks!

I did the upgrade as listed in the directions, and almost everything went well. I just want to note that there was a problem with installing and upgrading the Phonebook Directory. Below is the error messages:

Downloading pbdirectory 141512 of 141512 (100%)
Untarring…Error(s) downloading pbdirectory:

* Could not remove old module /var/www/html/admin/modules/ to install new version

Error(s) installing pbdirectory:

* This module is broken and cannot be installed. You should try to download it again.

Tried to download and install again, but it still didn’t work - I got the same error message about removing the old module.

This was done on a test system running PiaF, so just a FYI on my experience to provide feedback.
Thanks for all the hard work putting this together, and I’ll see you at the training event in SC!
TomSyr

Training locations:

We need some training on the west coast. Seattle or Portland would be great.

Although I haven’t upgraded yet, I did donated a little bit. In other news, I wish I could go to the Training, but unfortunately I don’t make enough money to attend, or even visit the event (the flights from Puerto Rico are ALL expensive!) LOL. I really wish you all the best, and thanks for this wonderful software to easily manage the otherwise extremely-complicated but also great software Asterisk.

You all take pictures, and post to the forums so those of us that cannot go can enjoy a little bit of this wonderful training!

I tried to follow the updates and did not have any success on my test box. I also, to be fair, may have some other issues as a result of trying to install the fax thingie…I will reload on lab box and retry then post.

I just published a minor bug fix about an hour ago which you may want to check. The bug was simply that the 2.3 version of the XML file gets cached for 5 minutes after the initial check for updates, having the result of not seeing the new 2.4 modules if you run through things quickly. The bug fixe deletes the cached version at the time it bumps the version number so you will pull the real thing.

Thanks. Worked for me. Followed instructions and all went well.

I was a bit afraid to use upgrade button, so went instead for upgrade from tarballs. It went fine, I’ve noticed substantial changes in a way custom destinations are handled so I tested this first for few days on my test machine. Now both my production boxes are also on v2.4. Good work guys…

I have read the information about setting up FAX features by installing spandsp, etc. which are old info. Is it still required?

I am running now the 2.4 (trixbox) version but when I create a DID and enable fax features with email and trying both setting for detection type, does not give me the fax cng tones when I call in and instead Asterisk hang up (shows chan-unavail on the monitor).

We are running Asterisk 1.2.24 svn rev 79171.

My goal is to have multiple DIDs tobe used as FAX to EMAIL gateway. Is there something I am missing?

Thanks,
Gent

Trixbox 2.4 faxing does not work (current release 2.4.0.2).

It is a known issue with the trixbox release and has nothing to do with FreePBX. They are attempting to switch to Hylafax if I remember correctly.

So spansp is out in tb 2.4. you are best to go to the www.trixbox.org forums and search there for the latest info. There are a few other issues with the current release like trixbox 2.4.0.2 will not play mp3’s any more because they removed the mp3 codec drivers.

I was able to successfully add 2.4 to my home systems and it worked great and I liked the 2 new additions such as the Vmail blast and ZAP did features.

When trying to upgrade the Music On Hold module it tells me “Can not write to file ()”. Has anyone seen this before?
When I upgraded to 2.4 everything went great except the above. Is this a permissions issue on a dir or file if so which one?
Thanks a ton