Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: dynamic routing for UUCP mail
Message-ID: <8385@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Aug-87 15:42:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.8385
Posted: Thu Aug  6 15:42:01 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Aug-87 15:42:01 EDT
References: <915@bsu-cs.UUCP>, <1818@xanth.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 26

> ... There are plenty of sites that are
> well-maintained and managed, with reaseonable system managers who are
> interested in communicating with the rest of the world, and are still
> not running smail or anything like it...

It is worth reminding people that this is not (always) due to problems
like lack of time to install things, or lack of suitable software to
install, or sheer sloth.  A case in point is utzoo:  we decided long ago
that *as a matter of policy* we would not offer a free routing service
to the world.  So any mail that arrives here for relaying onward had better
have a destination address that starts with "neighbor!", where "neighbor"
is one of our immediate neighbors.  (This is distinct from the issue of
what interface we offer our *own* users for sending mail.)

(People may be interested in the reasons for the policy.  There are two.
First, we are a rather well-known site with finite phone budgets, and we
don't want people saying "it's going to Canada, so just send it to utzoo
and let them sort it out".  Second, we have a long-standing preference
for software whose behavior is dumb but predictable, as opposed to smart
but nondeterministic.  Proper functioning of any multi-hop network depends
on at least semi-predictable behavior by relay sites; having had many
frustrating experiences in trying to push mail through "smart" relayers
elsewhere, we have opted for relaying stupidly but reliably.)
-- 
Support sustained spaceflight: fight |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
the soi-disant "Planetary Society"!  | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry