Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!sundc!hqda-ai!merlin
From: merlin@hqda-ai.UUCP (David S. Hayes)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Interactive SMTP over phone lines
Message-ID: <351@hqda-ai.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-May-87 14:26:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: hqda-ai.351
Posted: Tue May  5 14:26:34 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 7-May-87 05:11:39 EDT
Organization: Army AI Center, Pentagon
Lines: 20
Keywords: smtp sendmail interactive modem


     The recent traffic about batch smtp has set me to wondering.
Part of the problem with bsmtp is the 'b'.  SMTP is designed to be
an interactive protocol.

     At my site, we have some Symbolics lisp hardware.  These
machines have software for what Symbolics calls the "dialnet" mail
system.  This service works much like UUCP.  The difference is
that the login shell is (the lisp equivalent of) "sendmail -bs".

     We ought to be able to do this with the current BSD sendmail.
I see a mail transport agent.  Sendmail should be told to talk
smtp to the TA.  The TA dials, then just acts as a pass-through.
Of course, we don't get file transfer this way, but it still seems
like a reasonable approach.

     Anyone want to comment?
-- 
David S. Hayes, The Merlin of Avalon	PhoneNet:  (202) 694-6900
UUCP:  *!seismo!sundc!hqda-ai!merlin	ARPA:  merlin%hqda-ai.uucp@brl.arpa