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From: vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: local site in a domain
Message-ID: <87732@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: 27 Feb 91 01:48:10 GMT
References: <WB?--?&@b-tech.uucp> <J_F-9G-@b-tech.uucp> <87512@sgi.sgi.com> <8YF-!-?@b-tech.uucp>
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Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
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In article <8YF-!-?@b-tech.uucp>, zeeff@b-tech.ann-arbor.mi.us (Jon Zeeff) writes:
> ...[things that I mostly agree with]....
> 
> >        It would be unreasonable to prohibit local nicnames, as in
> >user@apple meaning user@apple.mysite.com.
> 
> I disagree.  I do that here and it doesn't cause any problems.

What!?  You are able to make people type "host.ann-arbor.mi.us"?  That
boggles my mind.  It seems most of the thousands of people at the thousands
of machines within sgi.com complain bitterly at having to type
"host.subdom" instead of "host".  They'd get out their pitchforks and
torches if told to type "host.subdom.ain.sgi.com"!

Could it be there are few machines in ann-arbor.mi.us, so that people
rarely have to type the extra stuff?  Here, everyone has at least one
private machine, and most of us spend much of every day fiddling with many
other machines, frequently many routers and domains distant.

> If mysite has a uucp link to apple.uucp, then I disagree.  If not, then it's
> a local decision.  I don't find it unreasonable to make users use
> apple.mysite.com when that is what they mean.

It seems strange to advertise a link to "apple" meaning apple.com without
having such a link.  It seems crazy to both advertise such a wierd link and
route mail elsewhere, so you and I must agree.


> But what about local users - do you want your users to somehow know 
> that apple is a special case?  Or should users always use ".uucp" when 
> they mean a site in the uucp maps?  I would find this obnoxious or
> confusing (foobar!user works but apple!user doesn't because there happens to
> be a site in the local domain with the name apple but not one named foobar?).

Here,
	sgi!foo... 	becomes foo... immediately
	foo!user	is immediately converted to user@foo
	foo.domain!user	is immediately converted to user@foo.domain
	foo!bar!user	is treated like foo!bar.uucp!user (see @bar.uucp below)
	foo!bar.uucp!user is treated as if it were an RFC822 source
				route through bar.uucp (see @bar.uucp below)
	user@bar	is routed to:
			     (1) bar.sgi.com if existent
			     (2) directly connected UUCP neighbor if existent
			else (3) bounced
	user@bar.uucp	is routed where the maps say bar exists, regardless
			    of whether there is also a local UUCP
			    neighbor foo or a foo.sgi.com.
	user@bar.uux	is routed to the directly connected UUCP neighbor
			    bar or bounced.  This is for UUCP neighbors
			    who can't pick unique good names.

Notice that we don't do UUCP map lookups on unqualified hostnames unless
there is a strong hint that UUCP is involved.  By going to FQDM's early and
well away from the UUCP & Internet gateways, people rarely notice & never
complain of the obnoxiousness you mention.  Moreover, people here have come
to rarely use simple UUCP hostname paths.  Instead, they use domains, as in
user@apple.com, even for UUCP links.


Vernon Schryver,   vjs@sgi.com