Xenix mail system

[tif at cpe.UUCP]

Gee, it's still growing, I better send it before it gets any longer ...

Written  4:04 pm  Jan 31, 1989 by ateng.UUCP!chip in cpe:comp.unix.xenix
>In article <694 at vector.UUCP>, chip at vector.UUCP (Chip Rosenthal) writes:
>> Hey Chip ... what does your mail setup look like?
>
>/usr/bin/mail -----> execm ---.
>			       |
>	   Elm -----.          |             .----------> (user mailboxes)
>		    |          v             |
>	 uuxqt -----+-----> smail,rmail -----+----------> uux
>		    |                        |
>      recmail -----'                        `----------> deliver

Hey Chip ...  (Sarcasm for humor only, i.e.  :-)  )
(Firstly, I'm not familiar with the features of deliver)
Unless deliver is real smart, that won't cover ALL the Xenix options.

I realize that there are only two of us Micnet fans out here, but I
thought I'd mention that Micnet adds a couple of quirks to this:

There can be a machine whose only access to uucp is via Micnet.
Therefore, the outgoing mail has to be sent down Micnet to get
to the uucp machine where it is actually uux'ed.  Also, his
incoming mail has to be sent down Micnet to his machine where
it actually gets stuffed in his mailbox.

In essence, the right hand side of the drawing has two more branches.
One which (eventually) boils down to a "remote ... uux" and another
which is a "remote ... diddle-with-mailbox."  I'm not sure if "deliver"
can handle these possibilities or not.  The biggest obstacle that I can
see is that (ideally) the uucp machine on the network should be identified
by the "uucp:" line in the maliases file (although I see no reason it
couldn't be handled through a different RUNTIME determination method).

Both of us (remember us two Micnet fans) came up with a two part solution.
(Honestly, I can't remember right now why I needed a two part solution.)
One for a micnet only machine, and one for a micnet/uucp machine.
Anyway, for the micnet only machine, the right hand side of the diagram,
in my system, is replaced by the original /usr/lib/mail/execmail (moved
to execmail.x).  It has the smarts to find the real uucp machine and send
the mail there (it actually goes through smail again on that machine).  The
philosophy was to leave as much of the existing system intact as possible.

It's not as elegant as I'd like but it works.  A single solution that
is no less efficient than the original XENIX mail system would be best.
Any better ideas?  (And, I'm sure you all know how it ruffles your
feathers for someone to "solve" your problem by saying "Well, don't do
that."  i.e.  DON'T tell me to trash micnet.)

Now, did I just waste my time discussing a problem that deliver solves?

			Paul Chamberlain
			Computer Product Engineering, Tandy Corp.
			{killer | texbell}!cpe!tif

(Sometimes) my writings (ASCII) resemble LISP (lots of parentheses)
but at least there are no mispellings, typos, or missing words (not
intended to be directed at anyone in particular, just my soapbox).