Asri-unix.535 net.unix-wizards utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!hpvax!sri-unix!Dpk@BRL Sat Jan 16 07:53:45 1982 Re: enhancement to UNIX mail program At BRL, we are running the MMDF mail system, but the changes I made would be applicable to other systems at least in theory... MMDF is set up with various channels (out to UUCPnet, out to the ARPANET, local delivery, BRLNET, etc.). For each channel there is a list of hosts that can be reached on that channel. The channel programs hide the workings of the different networks they connect to. For instance, the ArpaNet is a flat network, whereas UUCP is a store and forward. We wanted to remove the need for users to have to know the UUCP paths to a given host so I built a mapping table from hostname to a!b!c!hostname. The UUCP channel program looks up hostname and finds the appropriate path and poof! About the only problem this has is the maintainence issue. the mapping table should be kept up to date (although not necessary as you can still specify long paths). Another potential problem is making sure all hosts have unique site-ids. This is currently not a problem but there is no assurance that it wont become a problem in the future. Perhaps some coordination in this area would be useful. Has anyone thought about some more elegant means for handling a randomly organized store and forward network? For instance, by specifying each host by its neighbors. How then do you choose a path? Cheers, Doug PS. I would be interest in talking with others working on network mail issues at Santa Monica. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.