Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!intercon!news From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: Paths and Precedence (Re: Question about From: lines) Message-ID: <269FEC7D.40E@intercon.com> Date: 15 Jul 90 04:09:33 GMT References: <++J4QGC@xds13.ferranti.com> <3RK4TQE@xds13.ferranti.com> <269B6560.3F1E@intercon.com> <269D048B.5A0C@intercon.com> Sender: usenet@intercon.com (USENET The Magnificent) Reply-To: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Herndon, VA Lines: 42 In article , peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: > Once it gets to f.q.d.n it doesn't matter whether it's !-pathed, @-ed, %-ed, > if the name after ! is an internet address you're still tunneling uucp > through the internet. Mmmm, sort of. There are hosts (such as UUNET) which will "pretend" to have UUCP connectivity with hosts that they actually reach via SMTP over the Internet. Even so, it is still a route, and not an attempt to encapsulate a route in an address. Also, I don't want to give the impression that I think that it's gatewaying mail or even passing UUCP mail through the Internet that's a problem--on the contrary, I am all in favor of as universal connectivity as possible. What I object to is promulgating magic interpretations of the local part of an address, and even that I only object to because it breaks. Back in The Old Days, when the UUCP network map fit on a half-page of line printer paper, ARPANET used an essentially static host table, and Berkeley was the only point of contact between them, source routing worked pretty well (not perfectly, but pretty well). I know--I used it. However, at this point, the state of email connectivity is so complex that any magic that is introduced to make life easier in one place makes it harder somewhere else. Entropy is conserved :-). On the Internet, source routes have been deprecated in favor of domain addresses and mail exchangers. This isn't because of politics, it's because it works better this way. !-@ hybrids and %ification are just source routes in disguise, and they are just as prone to break mail. My domain bigotry is not based on idealism, it's based experience and on the fact that when I have to send mail to someone with something besides a straight UUCP path or a straight domain address, chances are it will bounce or disappear. I've given up on even *trying* addresses with a few certain sites in them, because I have never seen mail get through them, however permuted an address I use. Mail comes out of them, but it never gets back... DNS + MX handling: it's not the law, it's just a good idea. -- Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation