Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!ge-dab!ge-rtp!edison!rja
From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Maps & domain-names (was Grumpy != grumpy)
Message-ID: <1712@edison.GE.COM>
Date: 16 Nov 88 12:30:50 GMT
References: <398@ditka.UUCP> <42300009@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu>
Organization: GE-Fanuc North America
Lines: 26

In article <42300009@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu>, kai@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu writes:
> 
> 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.

There are a very few top level domains:  EDU, COM, MIL, GOV, ORG, US, & the
overseas ones.  As you yourself point out below, defining a smart-host is
a good way to go.

> 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.

The above is unnecessary.  If your REAL domain-name is registered and it is
listed in the maps by its domain-name (in the d.* files), that should be 
sufficient for all UUCP sites.  


> 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. 


If we all would get domain-names, mapping would be much less the problem
that it is today.  Smart-hosts are a good idea.