🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <kttt77INN24d@smurf.smurf.sub.org> urlichs@smurf.sub.org (Matthias Urlichs) writes:
>
>In comp.mail.misc, article <1992Apr2.100038.19800@prl.dec.com>,
>  boyd@prl.dec.com (Boyd Roberts) writes:
>< I was attempting to mail `thorin.att.com' whose _physical_ location
>< is even known to me (neither in the USA or Germany), but...
>< 
>< [ Mail bounce from thorin.swb.de ]
>
I didn't see the original posting or I'd responded by then, especially
with another DECie in distress. ;-)

>This problem is increasingly common:
>
>a- Somebody has a UUCP connection. The partner has a domain name, which
>   is locally translated to the associated UUCP name for the benefit of UUX.
>   The local UUCP name is not registered in the UUCP maps.
>b- Somebody else registers their system in the UUCP maps with an identical
>   UUCP name and (possibly) a different domain name.
>
That's what happened, it seems that thorin.att.com did pop up after
thorin.swb.de. But there could be a dozen thorin.fully.qualified.domain
systems out there, if the mailers were set up correctly.

>Possible consequences, depending on how your mailer is set up:
>
>c1 The translation in step A now sees the registered UUCP name and forgets
>   that it is able to directly deliver mail to the local UUCP system.
>c2 The translation in step B now sends to the locally connected UUCP system
>   even if the mail is intended for the site registered in the UUCP maps.
>
In this case a small modification of c1 would apply, see below.

>In either case, the site responsible for translating the domain name to a
>UUCP name (in this case, probably something.att.com) should get its mailer
>fixed.
>
Amen! I (putting on my domain master hat for swb.de) did complain to the
postmaster of AT&T (att.att.com to be precise) and he told me that they
don't have a system called thorin and thus the one found in the uucp maps
(thorin, thorin.swb.de, thorin.swb.sub.org) was used.
I complained about this, uhm, unwise rerouting and asked him to locate and
register the very real thorin.att.com but haven't receive an answer 'till
now. A week has passed, and some more bounces have made their way through
here...

>The best solution for this is probably not to use local UUCP names which
>might appear in the maps. The easiest way to accomplish this seems to be
>an underscore somewhere in the UUCP name.
>
The best solution for this particular problem would be a mailer at
att.att.com that bounces mail to unknown FQD addresses in the att.com
domain instead of trying to be an oh-so intelligent being (which mother
nature hasn't managed to come up with in hundred million years of
evolution ;-).

Cheers,

<CB>
-- 
  // <CB> aka Christian Balzer, P.O. Box 1348, D-6108 Weiterstadt, Germany
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