Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!purdue!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!etive!glasgow!Andrew.Findlay
From: Andrew.Findlay@brunel.ac.uk (Andrew Findlay)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: campus mail service
Message-ID: <23067.8902081152@Suleika.me.brunel.ac.uk>
Date: 8 Feb 89 10:52:36 GMT
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| Is it possible to include code in a sendmail system to fuzzy match
| incoming mailnames using (say) the fields of the password file as basic

Yes. The IDA enhancement kit provides that service, along with a lot
of other nice things. At Brunel we use the IDA facilities to replace
usernames with full names in mail addresses.

| data.  we are in the middle of procuring a new main campus general
| purpose and mail system, the only systems on the shortlist are all UNIX.
| We have about 4000 registered users and expect this to increase with a
| better mail service.  I am frightened as to the size and search time of
| an alias file with several entries per user.  We clearly need to use the

All versions of Sendmail that I know of use a DBM (Hashed key)
database to store the aliases. Lookup is very fast.

| alias system for users whos mailboxes are elsewhere but feel that an
| algorithm approach should be possible for users with local mailboxes
| given a sensible choice of username strategy.

There are arguments both for and against fuzzy matching. It is
generally thought best to bounce the message if there are several
possible matches. Many people argue that ONLY exact matches should be
delivered, and all fuzzily-matched near-misses should be reported to
the sender with some helpful information to enable them to get the
address right next time.


| We cant be the first to do this sort of thing???

Not at all, but relatively few sites are putting much effort into
using the facilities that are now available.

I hope to have a version of Sendmail with IDA ready fitted available
for public NIFTP in the UK quite soon. This will be based on
Sendmail-5.61, which is the latest and greatest from Berkeley (and is
much more secure than the versions supplied by most manufacturers)


Andrew

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|  From Andrew Findlay at Brunel University, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK  |
|  Andrew.Findlay@brunel.ac.uk          phone: +44 895 74000 x2512  |
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