<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 96.1-c (Feb 29, 1996) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The paths database</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY LANG="EN"> <A HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A HREF="node210.html">Delivering Messages to Local </A> <B>Up:</B> <A HREF="node208.html">Routing Messages</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A HREF="node208.html">Routing Messages</A> <BR> <P> <H2><A NAME="SECTION0016710000">The paths database</A></H2> <A NAME="smailpathalias"></A> smail expects to find the pathalias database in the paths file below /usr/lib/smail. This file is optional, so if you don't want to perform any pathalias routing at all, simply remove any existing paths file. <P> paths must be a sorted ASCII file that contains entries which map destination site names to UUCP bang paths. The file has to be sorted because smail uses a binary search for looking up a site. Comments are not allowed in this file, and the site name must be separated from the path using a TAB. Pathalias databases are discussed in somewhat greater detail in chapter-<A HREF="node186.html#mail"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="gif" SRC="cross_ref_motif.gif"></A>. <P> If you generate this file by hand, you should make sure to include all legal names for a site. For example, if a site is known by both a plain UUCP name and a fully qualified domain name, you have to add an entry for each of them. The file can be sorted by piping it through the sort(1) command. <P> If your site is only a leaf site, however, then no paths file should be necessary at all: just set up the smart host attributes in your config file, and leave all routing to your mail feed. <P> <BR> <HR> <P><ADDRESS> <I>Andrew Anderson <BR> Thu Mar 7 23:22:06 EST 1996</I> </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>