Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!noose.ecn.purdue.edu!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!l.cc.purdue.edu!cik
From: cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Imminent death of UUCP Zone predicted
Summary: We do not have one mail system; no attempt is made to find alternate
	routes
Message-ID: <2382@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 20 Jul 90 17:23:32 GMT
References: <100@raysnec.UUCP> <269B82AE.415E@intercon.com> <104@raysnec.UUCP> <1990Jul19.180709.27037@wolves.uucp>
Distribution: na
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department
Lines: 30

In article <1990Jul19.180709.27037@wolves.uucp>, ggw@wolves.uucp (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes:
> In <612@savant.UUCP> jon@savant.UUCP (Jon Gefaell) writes:
> >
> >In article <110@umn-d-ub.d.umn.edu> rhealey@umn-d-ub.d.umn.edu (Rob Healey) writes:

			.........................

> 	All the other items mentioned (1st class, Express, 3rd class,
> bulk) are priority classifiers that tell the postal service how much you
> are willing to pay for expiditious delivery.  In no case do you have any
> control of the topological path that the envelope traverses besides the
> endpoints.

Would the Post Office return your mail if the route it decided upon from
one site to another was not open?  It would come up with an alternate
route.  Also, it it did not find the street address you put down, it
might even try to figure out what you meant, although this has declined.
But I doubt it would do the things the "smart routers" do like just returning
mail it the route it tries does not work.  At least it will try to get it to an
identifiable post office.  I have had this fail with uucp.

Also, we have different mail systems.  There are different syntaxes for the
addressing for each system.  In postal addresses, there is usually a way of
identifying the location of the post office, and the street address or firm
name can be distinguished from the internatl delivery system within the firm.
This is not clear with ! addressing.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@l.cc.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)	{purdue,pur-ee}!l.cc!cik(UUCP)