Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sri-spam!ames!oliveb!epimass!jbuck From: jbuck@epimass.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: Bug (feature?) in smail 2.3 Message-ID: <1217@epimass.EPI.COM> Date: Tue, 2-Jun-87 01:37:38 EDT Article-I.D.: epimass.1217 Posted: Tue Jun 2 01:37:38 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 4-Jun-87 01:48:22 EDT References: <2088@cxsea.UUCP> <2089@cxsea.UUCP> Reply-To: jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck) Distribution: world Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Cupertino, CA Lines: 42 Keywords: REROUTE considered harmful Summary: DO NOT USE "REROUTE" !!!! In article <2089@cxsea.UUCP> blm@cxsea.UUCP (Brian Matthews) writes: >Sigh. Another case of RTFM. I did RTFM when I installed smail, but >didn't really understand the three routing possibilities (JUSTDOMAIN, >ALWAYS, REROUTE), so I left it at the default (JUSTDOMAIN). Of course >this tells smail NOT to reroute just uucp paths. I did a little more >digging in the code, and finally figured out I want ALWAYS routing. I >changed it, and everything works as it's supposed to. Sorry 'bout >that. You do not want REROUTE, and it should be eliminated from the code. Why? Several reasons: 1. If you do not keep your map data current, you will turn valid addresses into invalid ones, pissing off your neighbors. Since the UUCP Project does not keep the map current (I'm not blaming them, it's a tough job), it is out of date on the day it's posted. 2. REROUTE believes that there are no duplicate UUCP names. This is not true; turning it on in these cases will wreck valid UUCP paths no matter how consistent your database is. Now that the world is becoming domainized, this is officially sanctioned. To use Phil Ngai's example, there is an AT&T site named neptune and an AMD site named neptune. But there's no name conflict; the AMD site neptune does not appear in the UUCP map and its official name is neptune.amd.com. If someone mails to amdcad!neptune!user, this is a different neptune than the AT&T one, and mailers shouldn't be f*king with the address. 3. You make it impossible for users to avoid machines that are down. ihnp4, for example. Somebody posts a message "avoid ihnp4" but there's no way any of your users can. 4. You make it impossible to test specific UUCP connections with loop tests. ALWAYS, on the other hand, is perfectly OK because it does not alter valid paths. -- - Joe Buck jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (in the brave new world of domains!) {seismo,ucbvax,sun,decwrl,}!epimass.epi.com!jbuck