MAILER doesn't need to be taught to "distribute" mail -- it already has
the ability.  All that needs to be changed is the MAILER PROFILE table.
For example, if node A runs MAILER and nodes B and C are "near" A,
then if you change your MAILER PROFILE from this:
 
  A     A MAILER BSMTP 3
  B     B ?      DEFRT 1
  C     C ?      DEFRT 1
 
to this:
 
   A    A MAILER BSMTP 3
   B    A MAILER BSMTP 3
   C    A MAILER BSMTP 3
 
then your MAILER will "distribute" mail for A, B, and C all
via [log in to unmask]
 
This would leave at least 3 problems though:
 
1) It would only handle mail, not files.
2) You'd still have to come up with a way to generate the "distribute"
   version of MAILER PROFILE.  The MG utility won't do it.
3) Node "A" might not want to be the mail distributor for all nodes in
   its area.
 
--  John Halperin  <[log in to unmask]>
    Stanford Linear Accelerator Center