Subj : Re: Remember
To   : JANIS KRACHT
From : FOXY FERGUSON
Date : Sat Aug 25 2001 03:27 am

JK> mentioned (unless I dreamed it <g>) that this file would be
JK> of interest mainly to you folks who use the WW distribution
JK> system.  I think that is the key to this whole thing.  The
JK> information in the IRNRoute file is of no interest to a
JK> number of people.

The information in the "official" zone routelist compiled by the ZEC
of this zone is of no interest to quite a large number of people as well.
That data is, however, critical for only a very small handful of nodes.
Those nodes have indicated a decided preference for having the ZEC do
the grunt work of integrating the regional routelists and other sources
of information into one list for them. If the major (or minor) mail hubs
prefer not to get the data from the "official" source and use instead
thier own methods, as the Stars and Zone Hubs once did, that's fine and
dandy.

But it makes no sense at all for a mail hub (or group) to be distributing
a route file in a file echo devoted to other categories. The BACKBONE file
echo is/has been used for info files pertaining to ECHOMAIL matters, and
not routed netmail matters. Nor even for echomail statistic reporting (as
you recall, Souvestre set up a seperate file area for his release of those).

A route file that is apparently almost exclusively sourced on echomail path
data has a very serious potential problem: an echomail message in one echo
from a node in a net does not necessarily imply the proper handling of ROUTED
NETMAIL destined to any/all node(s) in that net. It only verifies that the
node in question is/was linked for that echomail conference via that route.
Nothing more.

There have been many highly publicized instances (minor wars, even) where a
node was linked for echomail with a Star/ZoneHub and NOT "authorized" for
processing of any routed netmail for other nodes in the net of which they
were members! The only time such an assumption can safely be made is when
the node in question is also the Host of the net in question. Then and only
then can one presume that the node can/will handle all routed netmail for
the net via a route based on path info from echomail messages.









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