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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!ames!xanth!kyle
From: kyle@xanth.UUCP (Kyle Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: dynamic routing for UUCP mail
Message-ID: <1862@xanth.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Aug-87 17:12:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: xanth.1862
Posted: Thu Aug  6 17:12:46 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Aug-87 14:03:06 EDT
References: <915@bsu-cs.UUCP> <6905@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Lines: 13
Summary: the right direction?
Xref: mnetor comp.mail.uucp:745 comp.mail.misc:465

The problem with just sending the mail in "the right direction" is that every
host has its own idea about what the right direction is.  For some hosts the
right direction is always going to be the cheapest link that they talk to,
whether the mail gets any "closer" to its destination or not.  Loops can be
avoided by careful checking of the From_ line but isn't it just as bad to have
your mail sent through 450 sites before it reaches its destination?

Another drawback to dynamic routing (as presented in <915@bsu-cs.UUCP>) is
that a lot of CPU time is wasted by having every site along the way look up a
path, only to throw away all but the first hop.

The ultimate problem is of course to get all UUCP sites to run smail or an
equivalent.  In the words of James Gosling, "Not bloody likely."