I think June means that the Distributed mail ends up generating
more mail items INTO a non-LISTSERV site because the NON-distributed
mail was sent to multiple recipients at a node in one mail item.  Ie.
in NON-Dist mail the users who were on the list and at the same node
would receive a header with several of them in the To: address (I
can't recall if you could tailor this other than saying who was
Local).
 
   DIST2 cuts down on the number of copies flowing between LISTSERVs but
increases the number fanning out to the final destination.  At least I
think that is the view from a non-LISTSERV site.
 
   For example, perhaps DIST2 would have a way to allow the user to
specify a parameter like "DELIV-GROUP= nn" where the default would be
1. At the final backbone LISTSERV the mail would be "bundled" for
non-local subscribers on the same node with up to "nn" recipients per
mail item.  For example, if DELIV-GROUP=5 and there were 10
subscribers at a node, then only two items would be sent.
 
   I think part of the problem arises in determining what is the
responsibility of the LISTSERVer versus the Mail Transfer Agent.  It
might be nice for LISTSERV to "know" more about mail transfer agent
and system.  For example, one might be able to use BSMTP to
encapsulate mail for users all served by a single gateway (but then
what do you do with the To: field...  ;-).
 
   And then there is the question of how LISTSERV fits into a TCP/IP
network where you have point-to-point SMTP connections...  Or if
LISTSERV backbone systems could have direct TCP pipes to provide a
super backbone (spine?) And of course TCP/IP is just temporary until
OSI gets done, right?  ;-)
 
             Marty (who me worry?) Hoag
 
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Marty Hoag
ND Higher Education Computer Network    US Mail: NDSU Computer Center
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