Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!helios.ee.lbl.gov!quench.lbl.gov!mike
From: mike@quench.lbl.gov (Michael Helm)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: Argh!
Summary: quarterman and bsd 4.3 system management manual
Message-ID: <1039@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 30 Sep 88 06:54:24 GMT
References: <9810@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Sender: usenet@helios.ee.lbl.gov
Reply-To: mike@quench.lbl.gov (Michael Helm)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Lines: 46

In article <9810@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> dave@jplopto.UUCP (Dave Hayes) writes:
>
>HOW does one become conversant with the ways of sendmail, UUCP mail,
>and the general internet mailing system?!? All I get when I ask 

Well, I'm a newcomer to this in some respects too, so...but I would recommend
you track down the following:

     Quarterman, John S. and Hoskins, Josiah C., "Notable
     Computer Networks," Communications of the ACM, vol. 29,
     no. 10, pp. 932-971, Association for Computing
     Machinery, New York, New York, October 1986.
This article is getting dated, but it's a place to start.  One of the authors
is said to be working on a book in this area; he's also involved with USENET,
perhaps he'll respond.

>and why fully 75% of my messages to other sites on the internet bounce?  
I can't be sure...I guess it's time to spout some gibberish.  What
you mite need is a sendmail that can talk to Internet name servers;
an MX'able sendmail.  This could help obviate the need for

>      ...a method of configuring sendmail to try these messages via other 
>routes when it encounters a bounced message or a felled machine? 
But not completely.  It does make life easier if it's available for your
system; trust me. (at least give me the benefit of the doubt)

>h**l does sendmail work? How does MAIL work? Is there a way to make the 
>system simpler? More reliable? Where are the standards? Why are all 
>machines different?
The BSD 4.3 System Management Manual has several sections that
explain 4.3 versions of sendmail & Mail, as well as the nameserver.
These articles in turn reference the standards, & they are available
on sri-nic.arpa or other places -- the rfc's.  The 4.3BSD SMM is available
from the Usenix Association & other places.  Your computer vendor's manuals
may essentially recap these articles, so check there too.

You may think you have it bad, but just look at what some people
have to put up with:

>From: "SDRRTR::PSI%PRSRTR::PSI%SCRVX2::BLUE::IN%\"'m_mailnow::m_sdr::davis'@scr-gateway\""@sdr.slb.COM

(I found this on comp.emacs tonite.  Apologies to the author.)
Imagine having to print something like that on your meishi!

Michael Helm (Internet M_Helm@lbl.gov) 
(my opinions only)