Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:1103 comp.mail.uucp:1461 comp.mail.sendmail:6 comp.sources.d:2480
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!edsews!roberts
From: roberts@edsews.EDS.COM (Ted Roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp,comp.mail.sendmail,comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: routing problem with sendmail/smail
Keywords: mail,smail,sendmail,route
Message-ID: <1078@edsews.EDS.COM>
Date: 13 Jul 88 16:51:02 GMT
References: <589@ndcheg.cheg.nd.edu> <426@ncar.ucar.edu> <9938@g.ms.uky.edu>
Organization: EDS - Bloomfield Hills, MI
Lines: 40

In article <9938@g.ms.uky.edu>, david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- One of the vertebrae) writes:
> In article <426@ncar.ucar.edu> woods@handies.UCAR.EDU (Greg Woods) writes:
> >... The only fix I was able to come up with is the following
> >hack to main.c, which causes sendmail to be called EVERY TIME the program
> >is called as "rmail".

I realize this isn't true for some systems (namely those that don't use
sendmail), but it seems that this is kind of a roundabout way of solving the
problem.  Why not just remove the link from rmail to smail and let sendmail
handle the routing.  If your sendmail.cf file is set up correctly, you should
check the local system (/etc/hosts) first, then check direct uucp connections
(/usr/lib/uucp/L.sys or similiar file), and finally route to smail as a last
resort - usually in cases of an non-direct host or a host name that includes
the full domain name.

> The misfeature is that you will now be unable -- at least in Evan's case --
> to route mail to the "other" jupiter.

As long as the user uses a full domain name as the target, smail should route
it just fine.  If the user tries to mail to user@jupiter and you have a direct
link to a machine called jupiter it should be routed via the direct link.

> As I see it the best solution is to arrange somehow for the local-etherhost
> to always be referred to by the full.domain.name.  Then there is no
> confusion because there is no name conflict.

I see it as the other way around.  Foreign hosts should always be referenced by
full domain names, otherwise inbound mail directed at your jupiter will always
be routed off to the other jupiter.

Note that I set our system up here so that ALL mail on subsidiary machines is
sent to the mailhost for routing.  All mail on the local system is delivered
on the mailhost and the mail directory is mounted out to subsidiary machines.
This does put a heavier mail load on the mailhost (a SUN 3/280), but it sure
simplifies the local system.

-- 
Ted Roberts                         |  My opinions are not necessarily those
EDS Technical Services Division     |  of my employer.  Does that mean I'm
UUCP: roberts@edsews.EDS.COM        |  wrong?