Sendmail Questions - (nf)

[pedz at smu.UUCP]

#N:smu:18500015:000:1750
smu!pedz    Jul 18 17:19:00 1984

I am looking for some answers to a few questions I have about
sendmail.  First, when we have a Vax 11/780 with 4.2bsd.  When
we brought up our system we simply took one of the old Berkley
sendmail config files and did minimal changes to it to make it
work.

Recently we got CS-Net and I had to go in and modify the config
file to teach it about CS-Net etc.  I noticed that the config
file we have is extremely large and seems to be overly complex.
However, I realized that I knew only enough about the subject to
be dangerous so I decided to ask you fellows on the net for some
help and advice.

I have two questions about the berkley config file.  First, in
our sendmail config file, there is a list of Berkley hosts.
Obviously we do not need that.  Can this be safely removed?
Second, I noticed in the S3 rules is a list of rewrite rules
that change patterns such as bob%smu into bob <@smu> where the %
can be replaced by a number of other characters.  Just above
these entries is a note that says that these entries are for
compatibility with old systems.  Can these rules be taken out
and how concerned should I be with old system?

My final question is with the semantics of the config file
concerning the prefixes $@ and $: on the RHS of a rewrite rule.
I think I understand the $@ prefix.  This says to basically
"return" the following from this ruleset.  Right?  But the $:
prefix has me somewhat lost.  The only thing I know about it is
that it prevents infinite recursion.  But exactly how and why I
do not see.

If you know something about this subject I would greatly
appreciate hearing from you.  I will be more than happy to post
my results to the net if I anyone else is interrested.

Perry
convex!smu!pedz		(uucp)
pedz at smu			(CS-Net)