Date   : Mon, 07 May 1984 15:23:23 pdt
From   : William C. Wells <wcwells%ucbopal.CC@Ucb-Vax.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Cautions regarding UUCP mail

       Date:  Fri, 4 May 84 18:37 MST
       From: Kevin Kenny <Kenny@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>
       Subject:  Cautions regarding UUCP mail
       Reply-To:  Kenny%PCO@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA,
                  Kenny%PCO@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
       To: "William C. Wells" <wcwells@ucbopal>
       Cc: INFO-CPM@AMSAA.ARPA
       Message-Id:  <840505013719.828229@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>

       For  the  benefit of those of us on the Arpanet who don't read
       net.mail, could  someone  possibly post a brief discussion of
       the topology of UUCP to  INFO-CPM?

I am not sure that there is a topology -- may be a spider web. The
UUCP network is a collection of hosts who are connected to one or
more neighbors via dialup telephone links. USENET is a news distribution
system that uses several types of connections to forward news.
Problems occur because a USENET news path is used a mail address
when the article is forwarded to INFO-CPM as mail.


       I know that some UUCP hosts relay a lot of mail, and that a
       reasonably good mailing path can be constructed from the Usenet
       string *if* you know who talks to whom.  I don't.

A UUCP mail address contructed from a USENET path may work, but is
often not reasonable or cheap. Again, do not assume that USENET news
distribution path is a UUCP mail address. Some USENET links are not
mail links. Some sites do not even use UUCP to transfer news or mail.
Most USENET paths show that the news article took the scenic route,
not the freeway to get where it was going.

Bill Wells
wcwells@Berkeley.ARPA
ucbvax!wcwells

P.S. If you would like to discuss UUCP mail addresses/USENET news paths
further, I suggest moving this discussion to the msg-group mailing list.