jessea@dynasys.UUCP (Jesse W. Asher) (08/06/90)
I just installed smail 3.1.18.1 and I've noticed some differences that
I have questions about. First, I liked the fullname function in smail 2.5.
You just run nptx and stick the results in the fullnames file. I
couldn't even find nptx or any mention of full name functions. Is this
implemented in smail 3.x and, if so, how?
In a related question: I decided to use nptx from smail2.5 and use the
results in the alias file. I would, however, like to keep the file with
the full name aliases in some other file. Is there a way I can specify
in the aliases file to look in another specified file? In other words,
how can I keep multiple aliasing files? Thanx much.
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Jesse W. Asher
6196-1 Macon Rd., Suite 200, Memphis, TN 38134
UUCP: {fedeva,chromc}!dynasys!jessea Evening: (901)382-1609 chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) (08/07/90)
According to jessea@dynasys.UUCP (Jesse W. Asher): >First, I liked the fullname function in smail 2.5. >You just run nptx and stick the results in the fullnames file. Well, then, I suppose we'll have to suggest that Smail 3.1 users keep a copy of the Smail 2.5 distribution. :-) >In a related question: I decided to use nptx from smail2.5 and use the >results in the alias file. I would, however, like to keep the file with >the full name aliases in some other file. You can create an entirely new director. Make a copy of the "aliases" entry in the directors file, changing the name of the director and the name of the alias file. I use this approach for system-wide aliases owned by me. The second directors entry is just like "aliases", but the name of the director is "aliases_chip" and its definition includes "file = aliases.chip". It also specifies "owner = chip" and "set_user = chip". However, there is a simpler way. According to the friendly documentation, an alias file can have :include: directives. For example, if you want to put your fullnames alias information in the file "fullnames", add this line to your aliases file: :include:fullnames Piece of pie. -- Chip Salzenberg at ComDev/TCT <chip@tct.uucp>, <uunet!ateng!tct!chip>
tron@tolerant.com (Ron Karr) (08/09/90)
In article <26BEC14F.1721@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes: >According to jessea@dynasys.UUCP (Jesse W. Asher): >>In a related question: I decided to use nptx from smail2.5 and use the >>results in the alias file. I would, however, like to keep the file with >>the full name aliases in some other file. > >However, there is a simpler way. According to the friendly >documentation, an alias file can have :include: directives. For >example, if you want to put your fullnames alias information in the >file "fullnames", add this line to your aliases file: > > :include:fullnames Sorry, Chip, this won't work. The :include:filename stuff only works as part of an alias resolution. So: foo: :include:/usr/smail/lists/foo-list will work, but: foo: bar :include:other-aliases will not. I believe Smail2.5 does this, however (or at least smail1.1 did, which is the last pre-3 version that I ever really used). -- tron |-<=>-| ARPAnet: veritas!tron@apple.com tron@veritas.com UUCPnet: {amdahl,apple,pyramid}!veritas!tron
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (08/10/90)
In article <201@dynasys.UUCP> jessea@dynasys.UUCP (Jesse W. Asher) writes: >I just installed smail 3.1.18.1 and I've noticed some differences that >I have questions about. First, I liked the fullname function in smail 2.5. >You just run nptx and stick the results in the fullnames file. I >couldn't even find nptx or any mention of full name functions. Is this >implemented in smail 3.x and, if so, how? >In a related question: I decided to use nptx from smail2.5 and use the >results in the alias file. I would, however, like to keep the file with >the full name aliases in some other file. Is there a way I can specify >in the aliases file to look in another specified file? In other words, >how can I keep multiple aliasing files? Thanx much. You can use multiple alias files with smail 3 by modifying the "directors" file. Just duplicate the "aliases:" entry with a different name and appropriate "file = other_aliasfile". However, it would be more efficient to just merge the files. Using the dbm or binary search technique it is not a great deal slower to search a large file, and the smail distribution includes some tools to manage the alias files so you could maintain separate files for manual editing but automatically merge for runtime access by making some simple changes to the "newaliases" shell script. Smail 3 restarts its lookup process anytime it finds a match which does not expand to the same thing as the item that produced it. This allows aliases to refer to other aliases, but it also means that if you use two alias files both of them will be searched twice if a match is found in either file. If your intent is to use the fullname aliases only if everything else fails (i.e. after checking the user names in the password file), then the "directors" entry for the 2nd alias file could be moved to a position between the "real_user:" and "lists:" entries. Since the "user" and "real_user" directors mark the address as completely resolved, if a match is found there, later directors would not be used (like the "lists" and "smart_user" directors). Les Mikesell les@chinet.chi.il.us
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (08/10/90)
In article <26BEC14F.1721@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes: >However, there is a simpler way. According to the friendly >documentation, an alias file can have :include: directives. For >example, if you want to put your fullnames alias information in the >file "fullnames", add this line to your aliases file: > > :include:fullnames The :include:filename directive only works on the expansion side of the alias, not the lookup keys. It would be used for expanding large lists or allowing certain expansions to be easily changed without rebuilding the complete alias file (and perhaps without write access to the alias/forward/list file that performs the inclusion). Les Mikesell les@chinet.chi.il.us