[arm-allstar] a tip on write_node_callsigns.sh

[Patrick Perdue]

Greetings:


This message is for anyone who uses a HamVoIP node, and wants to have 
the connecting node read as callsign rather than node number.

For a long time, included with HamVoIP, there is a script that converts 
nodes to calls from the allstarlink.org database, which I run once a day 
in cron.

However, during an email conversation, it occurred to me that some 
people might have stale files with wrong calls hanging around, for 
instance, if the call of a node changes.

The typical use of this script is:

write_node_callsigns.sh -a

which only writes files to speak calls for nodes that don't already have 
sound files associated with them.

This means that new nodes that didn't exist last time you ran the script 
will speak the call as it exists at the time you run it, but if that 
call changes, you'll get the same old file, unless you use a different 
switch.

write_node_callsigns.sh -ao

overwrites every single node number, regardless of if you have an 
associated file or not.


On my systems, I run write_node_callsigns.sh -ao once a month on the 
first day of the month, and write_node_callsigns.sh -a on days 2 through 
31. Since overwriting all node numbers writes more data to the SD card, 
and isn't necessary for every update, I only do it once a month. This 
keeps associated nodes from having old calls if they change between the 
second and thirty first days of the month.

I should note that I don't have any custom files for specific nodes in 
this case.


My crontab for the relevant updates looks like this:


# update the local database every day at 3:15 AM local time

15 03 * * * cd /usr/local/sbin; ./astdb.php cron

# write only new node callsigns every day except for the first of the 
month at 3:16 AM local time

16 03 2-31 * * "/usr/local/sbin/write_node_callsigns.sh -a" cron

# write all callsigns on the first day of the month at 3:16 AM local time

16 03 1 * * "/usr/local/sbin/write_node_callsigns.sh -ao" cron


Just FYI for anyone who cares.


73

N2DYI