Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!vixie
From: vixie@decwrl.dec.com (Paul Vixie)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Sendmail and pathalias
Message-ID: <75@volition.dec.com>
Date: 23 Aug 88 02:04:26 GMT
References: <4540@saturn.ucsc.edu> <23668@uunet.UU.NET> <2390@rtech.rtech.com> <44400@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV>
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab
Lines: 25

I'd like to add to Rick's note:

# If you just want to do uucp routing, smail or uumail is ok. If
# you want to get tricky and do something complicated BEFORE chosing
# a delivery agent, Comay's hacks are clearly the way to go.

IDA-enhanced sendmail can do this kind of thing, and as Rick says, it is
much better to be able to rewrite and reroute before you choose a delivery
agent, since which delivery agent you use will depend on the domain or host
you're trying to reach.  (It does _not_ usefully depend on the syntax of
the address - insisting that something go out over UUCP because you found
a "!" is not going to buy very many cookies.)

I don't know what Comay's hacks are like.  I know about IDA, and I like it
because it isn't pathalias-specific - you associate a DBM database with an
identifying letter, and you can look things up in this database in the RHS.
You can have more than one database open -- which I particularly like, since
I can keep a database of UUCP exceptions (overriding MX), SMTP exceptions
(overriding pathalias), and then pathalias.  It's a very flexible way to
get mail sent around, and it means I don't have to refreeze my config file
whenever I add a UUCP neighbor.
-- 
Paul Vixie
Digital Equipment Corporation	Work:  vixie@dec.com	Play:  paul@vixie.UUCP
Western Research Laboratory	 uunet!decwrl!vixie	   uunet!vixie!paul
Palo Alto, California, USA	  +1 415 853 6600	   +1 415 864 7013