Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!nsc!icldata!altos86!clp
From: clp@Altos.COM (Chuck L. Peterson)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: pathalias ignores fast Internet connections
Keywords: if else do
Message-ID: <1207@altos86.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jun 89 00:46:38 GMT
Organization: Altos Computer Systems, San Jose, CA
Lines: 19

When sending mail from here to places on the Internet such as
user@machine.berkeley.edu, pathalias gives me this path:
	uunet!mtxinu!ucbvax!machine.berkeley.edu!user

Clearly, the optimal route is:
	uunet!machine.berkeley.edu!user

The funadamental flaw in the smail system I have (2.5), is that
it assumes the only way to domains such as berkeley.edu is via
uucp to the domain's main machine; "ucbvax.UUCP" in this case.

I'm pretty sure this isn't just a problem with the ucbvax map entry
since most Internet sites with map entries work this way. (They can't
all be wrong, right?) Sure, uunet can do some bogus optimization by
realizing this, but I think we've decided this is not a good idea.
Or is this all just a problem with the way my stuff is set up...

Chuck L. Peterson
clp@altos.com