Re: [Exim] Opinions sought: byname vs bydns for manualroute

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Author: Philip Hazel
Date:  
To: Dean Brooks
CC: exim-users
Subject: Re: [Exim] Opinions sought: byname vs bydns for manualroute
On Tue, 19 Nov 2002, Dean Brooks wrote:

> According to the spec, the route_list option on manualroute router
> contains a host list. In section 10.9, the spec indicates that host
> lists specifically use gethostbyname(). Would this proposed change
> affect host lists in general?


No. Sigh. There aren't enough words in the English language! When is a
host list not a host list? Answer: when it is a list of hosts. Am I
being cryptic or am I being cryptic?

The list of hosts in a route_list is not a "host list" in the technical
Exim sense. That is, is not a list of patterns to be matched again some
host. I guess I should reword the manual to talk about "list of hosts"
rather than "host list".

> Wasn't sure if this was a generic host-list problem or something
> specific to manualroute.


It could affect host lists. That is an interesting point. Thanks for
raising it. I will think about the issue. Maybe the lookups in host
lists should also use two stages - try gethostbyname() first and a
direct DNS lookup afterwards. Further experiments are needed, I think.

--
Philip Hazel            University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@???      Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.