Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!umix!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi
From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers
Subject: Re: ! and @ -- which RFC ?
Message-ID: <2566@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 6 Apr 88 14:37:10 GMT
References: <12798@brl-adm.ARPA> <4557@chinet.UUCP> <2052@epimass.EPI.COM> <1121@cblpf.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Distribution: na
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 23
Summary: A route can be an address, and vice versa

In article <1121@cblpf.ATT.COM> tgt@cblpf.ATT.COM (45264-Tim Thompson) writes:
>   ...!uunet!epimass.epi.com!jbuck is NOT an address, it is a route. Using
>this type of syntax depends on where you are sending the mail from...
...
>It's not an address if it depends on where the mail is being sent from.

Not so.

The string "uunet!epimass.epi.com!jbuck" is an address if you are on a
system that recognizes the host "uunet".  This is the case if you are
running smail and have a pathalias database built from the UUCP maps.

The string "uunet!epimass.epi.com!jbuck" is a route if your system has
a direct connection with uunet.  This is the case for a large number of
sites.

Whether a string is a route or an address or both depends to a large
extent on what kind of software you are running.  On a system with
BITNET access only, which does not understand UUCP path syntax,
"uunet!epimass.epi.com!jbuck" is neither an address nor a route.
Fortunately such machines are rare (though not rare enough).
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!dhesi