Re: Message Routing Philosophy

[Paul Crowley <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

James Craig Burley <craig@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> So, at the dmail "layer", all connections are direct, and you could
> say that "dmail messages go from one server to another with a very
> concrete idea of where they came from and where they are headed".
> 
> But what are these dmail messages composed of, at the lower layers
> doing the actual transport?
> 
> They're composed of *packets*.

This is exactly the point, isn't it?  The Internet provides a way to
route information from any part of the net to any other part, and so
it's a mistake to re-engineer that capability into the protocol layer
above.  AIUI it's in email because it was originally designed around a
UUCP-based network in which most connections are intermittent.

I wish that the IM2000 mailing list were publically archived
somewhere; I'd be very interested to know what's come out of that
discussion.
-- 
  __  Paul Crowley
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