Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:3885 comp.mail.uucp:5048
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!decwrl!apple!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!joe
From: joe@cbnews.att.com (Joseph Judge)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: novice question re mail maps/bang paths.
Message-ID: <1990Aug20.210800.21492@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 20 Aug 90 21:08:00 GMT
References: <6745.26c97d33@vax1.tcd.ie>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 61

In article <6745.26c97d33@vax1.tcd.ie> jfsenior@vax1.tcd.ie (Semolina Pilchard.) writes:
>People of the net.
>
>I wonder could someone do me a favour?
>
>I am looking for information about using uucp mail i.e. how to use 'bang -
>paths' and how to use/ where to get mail maps?


	"bang path" stands for an addressing syntax that specifies the path 
	from your host to a remote host and user with '!'s (bangs) used as
	a separator.

	Example:  	att!cblpf!joe
			Central.Sun.COM!jeff.jones
			att.com!joseph.t.judge

	This is different from the domain style address, which is the:
	user@full.host.name.  Where, full.host.name is the full "dotted" 
	domain name for the remote host and user is a local mailbox or
	local address. These addresses must end in a valid top-level domain.

	As for the maps:

	What you need to look at is the 'pathalias' routing database generator
	(by Steve Bellovin and Peter Honeyman).

	The info posted to comp.mail.maps is passed through pathalias, it
	generates a database of paths to the send hosts - relative to your
	site.

	The comp.mail.maps files are kind of boring and useless if you don't
	have something to compile them into hop1!hop2!hop3 

	What I did, in college, was have a friend at that closest "smart"
	site send me an ascii copy of his "paths" database.
	
	It looks like:
	"hosta		host1!host2!host3!hosta!%s"

	Then, if I need to send somewhere, I grep it out, send the email to
	"that_smart_host!whatever_path!user"

	This helps overcome that big problem with using bang paths. That is,
	you, the user, *has* to know the full path from here to there and
	the connectivity is relative to your local host.



	Joseph Judge		postmaster@ATT.COM



>
>Can someone point me in the way of some material I should read?
>
>Thanks in advance...
>
>-- 
>J. lives at JFSENIOR@vax1.tcd.ie  "I was standing next to a mountain,
>                                   chopped it down with the edge of my hand."