Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!deimos!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxg.cso.uiuc.edu!uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu!kai
From: kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Grumpy != grumpy
Message-ID: <42300009@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu>
Date: 13 Nov 88 20:52:00 GMT
References: <398@ditka.UUCP>
Lines: 29
Nf-ID: #R:ditka.UUCP:398:uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu:42300009:000:1431
Nf-From: uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu!kai    Nov 13 14:52:00 1988


> /* Written 11:55 pm  Nov 10, 1988 by lear@NET.BIO.NET in uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu:comp.mail.uucp */
> The point is that I (and a lot of other people, I think) view the
> uucp maps as a form of backward compatability for sites that do not
> use domains.  ...  In any event, like all obsolete technology,
> there will probably come a time when there are so few sites using
> the maps that it will not be cost effective for people to maintain
> the software.

As I understand it, domains will only shorten, not eliminate the maps, since
you only have to know how to get to the gateway for each domain, instead of
each and every host.

Unfortunately, to maintain compatibility with sites who don't have registered
domains (yet), lots of people are registering all their hosts AND their
domain, so the maps are getting larger, not smaller.

Luckily, Kailand is connected to Uiucuxc, a very smart host at the University
of Illinois, so we don't have to maintain the UUCP maps (or pathalias) at
all.  Our smail database lists only the sites with which we have direct UUCP
connections, and everything else goes to uxc for further delivery.

Maybe if more sites used smart-hosts instead of trying to maintain the maps
themselves, it wouldn't be so difficult to keep the maps correct and in
sync.  Not that I LIKE the idea of the maps, I just see it as an unavoidable
reality.


Patrick Wolfe  (pwolfe@kailand.kai.com, uunet!kailand!pwolfe)