gmp@rayssd.UUCP (08/15/87)
In article <2706@hoptoad.uucp> gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes: > No, it isn't. The mail routing software is one more major subsystem > that requires ongoing maintenance. I don't run it because I want to > have time for development rather than system administration. The > occasional 30 seconds I take to look up some site's map entry with a > grep script is nothing compared to the time required to > configure, install, and deal with a major piece of software. I guess what's important here is an economy of scale. Multiply your 30 second grep times the number of letters sent on any given day by all users at a company. Multiply the size of the uucp map database by the number of systems at a company. Add in the time spent instructing users how to construct a bang-style path to send mail outside the company. For my situation, with a potential of hundreds of systems and a proportionate number of email users, the time spent maintaining smail on the corporate gateway is well worth it. Sure, I like to write fun programs as much as the next person, but I also like to see things function more or less smoothly. I know our mail system would run much less so without some program like smail to do automatic routing of uucp mail. > Uh, what obvious economic benefits? I'll be glad to hear of 'em, but > I already know which sites are local to me and how to route through them. As postmaster, it's well you should. But what about everybody else? Does every email user have to have an understanding of the uucp network? The economy is in reduction of duplicated effort. > I don't think smail is that smart yet. Is that a reason to give up on it? -- Greg Paris gmp@rayssd.ray.com {cbosgd,gatech,ihnp4,mirror,necntc,uiucdcs}!rayssd!gmp I'm not a burning building