🚀 go-pugleaf

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote :
>Hi all,
>
>As the subject line says, I am looking for a public domain MHS to SMTP
>gateway that will allow me to shove mail around transparently between
>an MHS based mail system and our Unix machines, which are all using SMTP 
>as a transport.
>
>Please mail replies to me and I will summarise shortly....
>
>Thanks in advance for any help,
>Martin.

OK, well here's the promised summary. For the sake of brevity, I have hacked
what people said down quite a bit, and also added some comments of my own
(in brackets [] ). Apologies for taking so long to produce this.

---
From jdickins@novell.com Mon Sep 21 16:38:32 1992

I think most people who require PD software use the Charon gateway.
I am not familiar with this product myself, but it may require
Pegasus mail as the MHS email application.

[As I understand it, Charon works directly with the information specifically
on a Novell server, so it couldn't be used as a general purpose MHS-SMTP
gateway (eg. CC:mail with MHS support). Someone please correct me if I'm
wrong here.]

If shareware would be acceptable, there is UGATE, which is an MHS<->
UUCP gateway.  It is available from The Hunger Project, fax 212-532-9785.
Suggested price US$200.

There is also a commercially available (ie, you have to pay money) 
MHS<->SMTP gateway (yes, I know you said you aren't interested, but
I like to make complete lists) called S-Bridge, made by Computer Mail
Services, voice 313-352-6700.
---
From alan@alans.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com Mon Sep 21 18:49:45 1992

	Here's part of the doc from XGATE40.ZIP, a shareware version.
	I do not know if the newer charon 4.0 is supported.
	US$199 is requested. I included part of the 'registration'
	form at the end.


				alan

                                       XGATE
                   A high-powered inexpensive SMTP to MHS gateway
                                                     XGATE - SMTP/MHS Gateway
       ----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Introduction
       XGATE is a highly reliable, stable, and intuitive SMTP to MHS gateway.
       It bridges  the broad  worlds of  MHS  and  SMTP  using  a  simplistic
       addressing scheme  that  requires  no  routing,  aliasing,  user  name
       tables,  or   anything  else   that  would   be  considered   periodic
       maintenance.
 
[...]
                                    Dave Frailey
                                 DAC Micro Systems

[Most of this deleted. It _does_ sound like it should do the job, but works
with Charon and Novell, so again would not, I think, solve everyone's 
MHS-SMTP gateway needs : It seems that although it will route MHS and
SMTP mail not directly related to any of the users on the Novell, it uses
the Novell file server as an intermediary, so you would at least need
such a server somewhere on your network. Basically, XGATE runs on one PC,
and Charon (with a driver to fool it into allowing addressing of users
not actually in the Novell bindery) runs on another. These two then pass
files to each other via the file server. Perhaps someone could correct
me if I have this wrong...?

BTW, if anyone wants a copy of the full text of the description, e-mail and 
I'll forward what I have.]

---
From: kent@humu.nosc.mil
I know of one commercial product called "S-Bridge" that costs $2500.

---
From: Leo Smith

I just wrote one. Yesterday was the first time it got up and worked.

It links into the mmdf subsystem of a SCO unix, and dumps messages
in, and collects them from, in and out directories more or less in
SMF format.

I am using it to link CCmail running on PC's NFS'ed to the SCO as a
server, with our UUCP connection to the internet!

e-mail me as [...zapped...] for more details.

[Now this would be very neat for my purposes! BTW, I have deleted the 
gentleman's e-mail address, since he may not appreciate being innundated
with e-mail about this. If he actually _wants_ that dubious pleasure, I'll
leave it up to him to release his address. I'll also mail him and ask if it's
OK to forward it to anyone asking me for it...]

---
From cwong@cs.cornell.edu Fri Sep 18 15:13:24 1992

I doubt if you need to summarize replies to your question: it is certainly
an FAQ. Many on the net will give the same reply: Charon 4.0. The 
freeware combination of Pegasus Mail and Charon is legendary in 
Novell netland. Unfortunately, I am not sure if Charon actually 
translates MHS-SMTP or just Pegasus-SMTP. Best to load and find out for
yourself. I get my copies from info.umd.edu, which you can telnet. Of 
course, commercial SMTP gateways are freely available. Da Vinci, for
example. 

[Well, see my earlier comments... I will add, however, that indeed, the
Charon, Pegasus combination _is_ very widely used if what you need is
specifically Novell-SMTP mail integration.]

---
From servio!slc.com!chrisp@m2xenix.psg.com Fri Sep 18 09:38:52 1992

About a year and a half ago, I satisfied myself that such a thing
did not exist.

[OK, it does seem to now...] 

I had a go at writing something myself, but soon
realised that I couldn't easily come up with an elegant solution;
the addressing systems across the two domains are fundamentally
different, even though they look similar...

[I can't really comment on how elegant any of the solutions outlined above
actually are, since I still have to try them out. Perhaps someone else
would care to comment on this...?]

---
From rkh@d1.att.com Fri Sep 18 06:55:01 1992

[Another suggestion to use the Charon-Pegasus combination. Thanks.]

---
From arrent!angel@uu.psi.com Thu Oct  1 12:56:52 1992

[XGATE again... ]

---
From @wpdis02.hq.aflc.af.mil:WHITEHS.AFMC@WPGATE1.HQ.AFLC.AF.MIL Tue Sep 29 07:40:58 1992

This is the number that we use in order to get hold Computer Mail 
Services, which has an SMTP-MHS gateway available commercially:  
313-352-6700

Another product that you might be interested in is XGATE1.  XGATE1 runs in 
conjunction with the freeware application CHARON and is shareware.  You 
can probably get more info concerning this product by calling Compuserve.  
There is a timed demo of the product in the NOVLIB area.

---
From aim1!cstat!steve@olsa99.olive.co.za Fri Sep 25 10:34:03 1992

I believe I have just the thing.  It is known as XGATE.  Oh, perhaps not
perfect: it's shareware.

---

OK, well that's the lot. The gist of it is that if you are specifically looking
at connectiing Novell with SMTP (and hence the rest of the world), go for
the Pegasus mail, Charon combination. If you need a more generic solution,
and have a Novell fileserver handy, use XGATE and Charon. If you don't have
a Novell fileserver, good luck.... :-)

Hope this is of use to someone,
Mart.
-- 
Martin Walker               |  "One way to stop a runaway horse
Paradigm Systems Technology |   is to bet on him"
Pretoria, South Africa      | UUCP : martin@parst1.UUCP  
++27-12-344-3973            | DNS  : martin@paradigm.CO.ZA