Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84 chuqui version 1.7 9/23/84; site nsc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!petsd!peora!pesnta!nsc!chuqui
From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Mail routing -- problems showing up
Message-ID: <3018@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jul-85 23:03:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc.3018
Posted: Mon Jul 22 23:03:14 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 04:04:59 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: The Dreamer Fithp
Lines: 52

I'm starting to see problems that look like smart mailers messing up
addresses. I **think** it may have something to do with some of the
assumptions in the gatech sendmail configuration files -- I'm hacking on
them now and some things don't look quite right.

All of the problems seem to be involving munging around with gateway cross
overs -- I'm seeing them specifically involving seismo and decwrl, the two
ARPA gateways I talk to. Scenario;

    someone mails to 'nsc!chuqui@decwrl'. A smart mailer says: "Aha! I know
    where that goes -- it goes to 'ihnp4!nsc!chuqui@decwrl' (since it looks
    for an optimal route to nsc, because the .ARPA is left off of decwrl).
    When the mail gets to me, it is sent to 'chuqui@decwrl' and the thing
    aborts.

There is an assumption in the gatech sendmail stuff that the top level
domain is .CSNET. This has interesting ramifications in both the .cf file
and in the uumail program they use for uucp mail optimization. uumail, for
instance, doesn't seem to like anything that isn't sent out as .UUCP (so 
an address like 'decwrl!foo@bar.ARPA'). The configuration stuff doesn't
like .UUCP top level domains and gateway crossing -- if I sent the .cf
an address such as 'seismo!a@b.ARPA' it gets sent to uumail as 
'decwrl!seismo!a@b.arpa' which uumail will then truncate back to the
original address -- not what is wanted at all. If you take uumail out of
the loop, you end up mailing to 'seismo!a', which is much different
than 'a@b.arpa', the final address in the original site.

There seems to be a growing problem with this. I'm looking at a couple of
things that might help:

    o uumail will be taught the .ARPA domain, and will strip any leading
    bang addresses from it and then mail it to the ARPA gateway (in my case
    decwrl). This means that something sent to nsc as 'seismo!a@b.ARPA'
    will really be sent to 'decwrl!a@b.ARPA'. Potentially, this can muck
    out a header incorrectly, but since uucp -> ARPA -> uucp gateways are
    frowned upon (and nigh impossible, I've tried it many a time) in
    reality I don't think it is a problem. Is it?

    o I'm trying to clean up the assumptions in the sendmail .cf that 
    the top level domain is well-connected rather than the uucp style
    semi-directed store and forward.

Any suggestions or help would be happily accepted. I think I know what I'm
doing, but that doesn't always turn out to be a safe assumption...

chuq

-- 
:From the carousel of the autumn carnival:        Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui   nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

Your fifteen minutes are up. Please step aside!