[8431] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Independent Milnet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Williams)
Thu Nov 18 14:45:29 1993
From: sdw@meaddata.com (Stephen Williams)
To: Mark-Ludwig@uai.com (Mark R. Ludwig)
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 14:44:21 -0500 (EST)
Cc: sdw@meaddata.com, com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9311181936.AA02133@hp.uai.com> from "Mark R. Ludwig" at Nov 18, 93 11:36:09 am
>
> >>>>> "S" == Stephen Williams <sdw@meaddata.com> writes:
>
> S> I disagree. A simple change to all local systems/workstations (send
> S> mail to the gateway if you don't know the machine, one line) will
> S> enable you to support workstations with Internet email. I did this at
> S> ae.ge.com (Aircraft Engines). The workstations, in fact, didn't know
> S> about DNS, domain names, etc. (They used a large host table...)
>
> Right. A simple change to how many nodes in *.mil? A simple change
> in the one system file which people who _will_ install device drivers
> and other local kernel mods _will_ _not_ touch out of fear of breaking
> something. It's simple for those of us who understand the sendmail
> configuration file to modify it, but at first glance it's complete and
> utter jibberish.$$
I've been around that kind of 'support' personell. Yuch.
Regardless of their skill level, it will take far less time, money,
etc. to do it right than to have every user try to get every reference
(people, old articles, mailing lists, etc.) changed. Along with
fielding thousands of 'you-can-do-this-to-fix-that' messages.
Actually, they are going to have to change those systems anyway to
install a 'mail gateway'. If they count on direct IP connectivity
now, it isn't going to work anymore. That same line will serve both
purposes.
And, except for about one page of info, sendmail.cf is pretty easy to
understand: it's just a regular expression search/replace expert
system. That one page of info tells which rulesets run in what order
and what the flags (general and mailer) do.
sdw
--
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