🚀 go-pugleaf

Please note that ECE has been the target of a number of 
spam e-mail relayers. Spam is, of course, the kind of unwanted
mail you get from time to time that contains headers like
"make money fast", etc. Relaying means that someone used a 
local machine to actually send out the spam. So, for example,
the spam would appear to come from machine xyz instead of the original sender. 
This is a very bad thing as it makes it appear that our machines
are the source of junk mail, which they are not.

We have been working for quite a while to eliminate this problem,
but it is a difficult task. The problem is that folks have been
using some machine for years to send/receive their mail via pop.
To enable pop requires allowing mail relaying. There is a solution
that will allow pop, but it is difficult to construct one for
every architecture, and some computer architectures are very
difficult (notably Alphas and IBMs).

The solution is to have a machine that authenticates a person
before it allows them to send mail. This has been achieved on
the departmental mail server ece.cmu.edu. We have been gradually
moving folks to this server (which also supports IMAP - a 
preferred method of remotely reading mail vs. pop). Unfortunately,
all the IBM machines in the department have been singled out
to be used as relays. As such, we are moving folks rather more
quickly to ece.cmu.edu (aka pobox). We apologize for this 
rapid mail system chnage, but have no alternative at present.

If you receive/send mail on an alpha or IBM, expect to get a notice
that you will no longer be able to do so in the next few days.
We will send you recommendations on IMAP mail clients at the
same time. Also, for those opting to use pine as their IMAP
client, I am in the process of constructing a web page on
how to set this up to read both local and remote mailboxes.

If you have any questions on the above information, please feel
free to contact ECE Facilities via gripe@ece.cmu.edu or to me
directly at lou@ece.cmu.edu. 

PS: For those using mh as their mail client, the transition
will be rather more painful. Because of the way mh is 
constructed, there is no good way to ever allow it to connect
to an IMAP server. In addition, its pop client may require
you to put a password in a file, which is a very bad thing.
It appears at the present time that you will be forced by
this technology change to eventually give up mh and its
variants. Sometimes progress isn't.
--
Lou Anschuetz, lou@ece.cmu.edu
Network Manager, ECE, Carnegie Mellon University