An update...

UUCP is working on my site, but my overall results are mixed:


UUCP results:
-------------

1) I was able to get Taylor UUCP to successfully transfer files back and
forth using both the 'i' and 'g' protocols. However, performance was
extremely bad as compared to the UUCP implementation I run on my Mac. There
were large pauses *between* files which outweighed the speedy rate at which
files would come in. From staring at the modem lights, it seems that this
was the fault of the uucp on my end, although I'm not sure how to remedy
the problem. (The pauses acted like they were happening as Taylor UUCP
processed each incoming message. However, I'm not sure if this is the case,
as rmail wasn't being run until after the call had completed.)

2) The m4 configuration files that come with sendmail 8.8.7 did a wonderful
job of showing me exactly what I needed to do. However, they didn't have an
example that included a smart host, which is needed if you want to do
proper domainist addressing. Ari Rubenstein sent me an example file that
had a smart host example.

For anyone interested in setting up UUCP as their sole means of mail
exchange, here's my .mc file.

Key:
  XXXXXXX is your primary UUCP neighbor
  YYYYYYY is your full domain. (In my case, "acheron.middleboro.ma.us" sans
quotes.)
  The VERSIONID line is essentially a comment.



divert(0)dnl
VERSIONID(`@(#)acheron.mc       1.1 (MLB) 09/02/1997')
OSTYPE(bsd4.4)
FEATURE(nodns)dnl
FEATURE(nocanonify)dnl
define(`SMART_HOST', `uucp-dom:XXXXXXX')dnl
CwYYYYYYY
MASQUERADE_AS(`YYYYYYY')dnl
MAILER(local)dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
MAILER(uucp)dnl



As it turns out, this is all you need to generate a working sendmail.cf
file. MAILER(smtp) is included because uucp-dom doesn't get defined without
it. uucp-dom is a mailer agent that you want to use if your uucp neighbors
understand domain addresses. Most ought to, nowadays.

One thing that had me confused was the fact that mail was accumulating in
my /var/spool/mqueue directory. I had incorrectly assumed that rmail would
directly deliver mail into user mailboxes. It doesn't. Mail is simply
queued up so that sendmail(8) can process it as appropriate. The solution
for me was to start up sendmail at boot time (in /etc/rc.local) like so:

sendmail -q1m -bd

This starts sendmail up as a daemon, which isn't necessary in this
situation, but it also makes it check /var/spool/mqueue once per minute, so
any incoming mail is processed and delivered.

There's a good instructional page at:

http://madhaus.utcc.utoronto.ca/doc/internaut/taylor.html

It has some nice examples to walk you through


Other results:
--------------

I couldn't get Eudora to talk to my sendmail. It would get through 'MAIL
FROM' and 'RCPT TO', but hang on 'DATA'. I could successfully run through a
message by hand, with telnet, but Eudora couldn't be made to work. This
could conceivably be because I'm connected to my NetBSD box through SLiRP,
which has proved to be flaky in other circumstances. (For example, I can't
seem to ftp from my Mac to most other systems, including my SLiRP-connected
host.) Additionally, I couldn't manage to correctly script Eudora so that
it could access the SMTP server through the Communications Toolbox.


Summary
-------

I'm going back to running UUCP solely from my Mac for now. I'll continue to
play with Taylor UUCP on the NetBSD box, to see if I can find the source of
the between-file pausing. As for the Eudora connectivity, I'll probably
just wait for LocalTalk support in NetBSD. Until that happens, I probably
won't be able to get a more reliable connection working.

Later...

--
        Mason Loring Bliss    /\    mason@acheron.middleboro.ma.us
      PGPKeyID: 0x25B3D5B5   /()\   awake ? sleep() : dream();
<barbaric>YAWP!</barbaric>  /    \  http://www.webtrek.com/mason