The asterisk.conf file defines the locations for the configuration files, the spool directory, and the modules, as well as a location to write logfiles to. The default settings are recommended unless you understand the implications of changing them. The asterisk.conf file is generated automatically when you run the make samples command, based on information it collects about your system. It will contain a [directories] section such as the following:

[directories]
astetcdir => /etc/asterisk
astmoddir => /usr/lib/asterisk/modules
astvarlibdir => /var/lib/asterisk
astdatadir => /var/lib/asterisk
astagidir => /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin
astspooldir => /var/spool/asterisk
astrundir => /var/run
astlogdir => /var/log/asterisk

Additionally, you can specify an [options] section, which will allow you to define startup options (command-line switches) in the configuration file. The following example shows the available options and the command-line switches that they effectively enforce:

[options]
;Under "options" you can enter configuration options
;that you also can set with command line options

verbose = 0             ; Verbosity level for logging (-v)
debug = 3               ; Debug: "No" or value (1-4)
nofork=yes | no         ; Background execution disabled (-f)
alwaysfork=yes | no     ; Always background, even with -v or -d (-F)
console= yes | no       ; Console mode (-c)
highpriority = yes | no ; Execute with high priority (-p)
initcrypto = yes | no   ; Initialize crypto at startup (-i)
nocolor = yes | no      ; Disable ANSI colors (-n)
dumpcore = yes | no     ; Dump core on failure (-g)
quiet = yes | no        ; Run quietly (-q)
timestamp = yes | no    ; Force timestamping in CLI verbose output (-T)
runuser = asterisk     ; User to run asterisk as (-U) NOTE: will require changes to
                       ; directory and device permissions
rungroup = asterisk    ; Group to run asterisk as (-G)
internal_timing = yes | no   ; Enable internal timing support (-I)
                             ; These options have no command line equivalent
cache_record_files = yes | no    ; Cache record() files in another directory until 
                                 ; completion
record_cache_dir = <dir>
transcode_via_sln = yes | no       ; Build transcode paths via SLINEAR
transmit_silence_during_record = yes | no ; send SLINEAR silence while channel is 
                                          ; being recorded
maxload = 1.0             ; The maximum load average we accept calls for
maxcalls = 255            ; The maximum number of concurrent calls you want 
                          ; to allow
execincludes = yes | no   ; Allow #exec entries in configuration files
dontwarn = yes | no       ; Don't over-inform the Asterisk sysadm, he's a guru
systemname = <a_string>   ; System name. Used to prefix CDR uniqueid and to 
                          ; fill ${SYSTEMNAME}
languageprefix = yes | no ; Should language code be last component of sound file 
                          ; name or first?
                          ; When off, sound files are searched as 
                          ; <path>/<lang>/<file>
                          ; When on, sound files are search as <lang>/<path>/<file>
                          ; (only affects relative paths for sound files)