From: utzoo!decvax!duke!mcnc!ikonas!mcm
Newsgroups: net.news
Title: Internet mailer
Article-I.D.: ikonas.158
Posted: Tue Mar  1 12:28:04 1983
Received: Wed Mar  2 07:55:55 1983



Have you ever wondered what to do with the Usenet map files
Mark Horton send down net.news.map?  Well, here is the answer.
You use them as input to a program called mkpath.  The output
of mkpath is a list of sites and a printf-type string that
shows the shortest path to the site.  There are several options
to mkpath, one to select the starting point, one to force all
connections to be two-way, one to delete an arbitrary site or
connection, and one to add a connection.  This program runs under
V7 UN*X or 4.1BSD with no modifications.  Our PDP-11/60 (non split I/D)
took two minutes to run through the data, so a VAX will be somewhat
faster.

What do you do with the output of mkpath?  Simple - you use it as input
to a program called nmail!  Nmail takes as arguments the mail address
of who you'd like to send mail to.  It strips everything up to the first
'!', and replaces the rest by using the printf string for the site
described by the address up to the first '!'.  It then exec's the normal
mailer, passing it the new arguments.

How do I get my copy?  You take it off net.sources.  The programs plus
their manual pages will be sent down net.sources shortly.

If you have any questions/comments, send them to:

	Mike Mitchell
	decvax!duke!mcnc!ikonas!mcm

Better yet, use the mkpath and nmail, and just say ikonas!mcm.

	Mike Mitchell