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From: karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: Overexpansion of aliases
Message-ID: <21282@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 2 Sep 88 21:52:03 GMT
References: <938@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> <945@amelia.nas.nasa.gov> <298@execu.UUCP>
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In-reply-to: dewey@execu.UUCP's message of 2 Sep 88 19:33:44 GMT

dewey@execu.uucp writes:
   We were told at a Sun 4.0 seminar that the yellow pages domain as host
   is a new 'feature'.  Good luck.

Misfeature.  Bug.  Bad bug.

It might be nice if I could have my mail-addressing domain name and my
YP domain name be the same.  I can't.  My mail-addr domain is
cis.ohio-state.edu.  A YP domain name of that length breaks PC-NFS,
which is so braindead that it apparently believes in a hard limit of
14 characters for a YP domain name.  (What did you do, Sun?  Develop
PC-NFS on a bunch of SysV-filesystem machines somewhere?)  So we must
necessarily hack our YP domain name down to something palatable to
PC-NFS.  Currently we use `cis.osu.'

John Gilmore (I think it was John; apologies if I am mis-attributing)
commented some time back that he had tried to argue Sun out of tying
YP domains to mail-addr domains and was unsuccessful.  It's time for
Sun to think this one through again.

A week or two ago, there was a question in Sun-Spots from someone
wondering why Sun seems to have gained such a nasty reputation in the
last several months (or couple of years, depending on the people with
whom you speak).  I have a theory for it: Because Sun is BREAKING
things left and right in the interests of `features.'

These `features' are not well-thought-out.
These `features' are DEEPLY BUGGY.
These `features' do NOT add significant advantage to my operation.
These `features' DO add to the number of things I have to manage.

All this is especially true with YP and the hassles of coping with
nameservers and mailers.  The nameserver is where host resolution
belongs; sendmail.cf is where mail-addr domain definition belongs.

The advantage of YP, for us, ends right at the point where management
of passwd, group, and similar files end.  Domain nameservice is best
done by /usr/etc/in.named, directly, and not by adding yet another
level of interaction between my application that wants, e.g., a host
IP addr and whatever-it-is which actually gives it to me.  YP should
be designed so as to GET OUT OF MY WAY when I find it does not fit my
needs.  Sun doesn't provide me with this ability.

I am tired of all of Sun, HP, and Pyramid deciding that They Know
What's Best For Me.  A couple of other vendors might fit the category
as well, but those 3 are the group with which I end up fighting the
most.  Sun is by far the worst offender.

An officemate suggested that I add the following: It seems that Sun
has been leading the way in so many areas for so long that they have
started getting cocky and are making too many of our decisions for us.
`They think because they have always done it right in the past that
they will always do it right in the future.'

Food for thought for Sun and other vendors,
--Karl