Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!mcdchg!ditka!kls
From: kls@ditka.UUCP (Karl Swartz)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Rerouting considered GOOD
Summary: *routing* is good, *re*routing is evil
Message-ID: <371@ditka.UUCP>
Date: 25 Sep 88 19:19:33 GMT
References: <8809212215.AA21035@naggum.se> <2540@sultra.UUCP>
Reply-To: kls@ditka.UUCP (Karl Swartz)
Organization: Inaction Central, Los Alamos, New Mexico
Lines: 33

In article <2540@sultra.UUCP> dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Der Tynan) writes:
>
>a lot of times I haven't got the foggiest idea how to get mail to a given site,
>and would appreciate a relay along the way cleaning up my routing (as an
>exercise, pick a site in Ireland ...

Ok, let's say I wanted to get mail to user@uujmvx, a site the maps claim
to be in Northern Ireland.  Running smail on ditka tells me this would
be routed as follows:

    emoryu1!gatech!ncar!oddjob!mimsy!uunet!mcvax!ukc!uujmvx!user

Hypothetically speaking, let's say uunet was a rerouter.  (It is not, to
the best of my knowledge.)  If I had wanted uunet to "clean up my routing"
I would have let it do the routing in the first place, by mailing to

    emoryu1!gatech!ncar!oddjob!mimsy!uunet!uujmvx!user

or even just let ditka figure out how to get to uunet

    uunet!uujmvx!user

Presumably, I did not add the extra three hops to the address because
my fingers needed the exercise.  Therefore, unless there is some serious
problem with those links (such as uunet not talking to mcvax anymore)
uunet should assume I had some reason for putting them in and leave its
bloody paws off them.  (Which it does, as far as I can tell.)

-- 
Karl Swartz		|UUCP	{gatech!emoryu1,uunet!dasys1}!ditka!kls
1-505/667-2402 (work)	|ARPA	rt1!ditka!kls@hc.dspo.gov
1-505/672-3113 (home)	|BIX	kswartz
"I never let my schooling get in the way of my education."  (Twain)