xrjjm%scint.span@JPL-VLSI.ARPA (06/30/87)
Comment: Begin User Supplied Mail Headers. *Site: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. *Position: 76 Deg. 52' 28.5" West, 38 Deg. 59' 59.8" North. *From: John J. McMahon, Systems Programmer, STX - ST Systems Corporation. *Project: COBE Science Data Room (CSDR), Code 401.1 *Reply-To: (Arpa-Internet) XRJJM%CSDR.SPAN@JPL-VLSI.ARPA [Old Format] *Reply-To: (Arpa-Internet) XRJJM%CSDR.SPAN@VLSI.JPL.NASA.GOV [New Format] *Reply-To: (Bitnet) ZMJJM@SCFVM *Reply-To: (Span/Physnet/Hepnet) 6173::XRJJM = CSDR::XRJJM (Node 6.29) *Reply-To: (TEXnet) UTADNX::UTSPAN::CSDR::XRJJM *Flame On* >>> From: maynard!campbell@wjh12.harvard.edu (Larry Campbell) >>> Maybe it's just selective recall, but it seems to me that the most broken >>> gateway software in the world is at BITNET sites. I seem to recall the worst problem being at one of the Arpa-Usenet gateways, I agree... selective recall. >>> At least some of these BITNET nodes have the good taste, humor, or cynicism >>> (pick one) to add the following "Comment:" header to articles they forward: >>>> X-Bitnet-Sender: General Delivery <POSTMASTER@CRUXNMC> >>>> Comments: This is gatewayed mail. Warning: Mail may not >>>> necessarily be returnable through this path. This is a feature of a particular software package called JNET. This header usually comes when mail is sent from one DECnet-Only node through a node running JNET and DECnet and down the line to the next JNET node... etc... >>> I won't even bother to discuss the ridiculous routing some of these messages >>> take; the one from which the above header lines were excerpted was posted >>> at the University of New Hampshire (USA) and arrived here, a distance of >>> about >>> seventy miles, via Amsterdam, Geneva, Berkeley, and Los Angeles. (I can >>> understand odd paths in the USA, where interstate calls are often cheaper >>> than intrastate, but the trip across the ocean and back makes little sense.) Bitnet is a fixed path system, many links are established to the node that is "closest" in terms of cost. There is no global planning as to route struct- ure. It just sort of appears. There is no alternate route between UNH and you, that's the only one. >>> Is it too much to ask the BITNET people to get their gateways working more >>> robustly before the comp.os.vms (INFO-VAX) distribution goes completely >>> berserk and fills up everyone's disk? Sure, but at the same time can we talk to the persons at DEC, and GE and AT&T and USENET, and HEPnet, and... etc. *Flame Off* ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v John J. McMahon (Fast-Eddie) Disclaimer: Views expressed in this letter are my own, and are not meant to represent the views of my employers.