This bitdomain feature is deprecated because its functionality can be handled by the newer domaintable feature (FEATURE(domaintable)). In case you still need to use this bitdomain feature, we continue to describe it here.

Many Internet hosts have BITNET addresses that are separate from their Internet addresses. For example, the host icsi.berkeley.edu has the registered BITNET name ucbicsi. If a user tried to reply to an address such as:

user@ucbicsi.bitnet

that mail would fail. To help with translating registered BITNET names into Internet addresses, John Gardiner Myers has supplied the bitdomain program in the contrib subdirectory. It produces output in the form:

ucbicsi    icsi.berkeley.edu

that can be put into database form for use with the K configuration command. The bitdomain feature causes rules to be included in the configuration file that perform the necessary translation:

R$* < @ $+ .BITNET > $*         $: $1 < @ $(bitdomain $2 $: $2.BITNET $) > $3

Note that this rule requires BITNET addresses to be so identified with a .BITNET suffix. If the address, without the suffix, is found in the bitdomain database, the Internet equivalent address is used in its place. (See also the UUCPSMTP mc configuration macro and the domaintable feature.)

The form of the bitdomain feature is:

FEATURE(`bitdomain')

This declaration causes the following K configuration command to be included in addition to the aforementioned rule:

Kbitdomain hash /etc/mail/bitdomain

The bitdomain feature is one of those that can take an argument to specify a different form of, or name for, the database:

FEATURE(`bitdomain',`dbm -o /opt/sendmail/bitdomain')

The extra argument causes the aforementioned K command to be replaced with the following one:

Kbitdomain dbm -o /opt/sendmail/bitdomain

The earlier bitdomain setting is safe. You can routinely include it in all configuration files. The database lookup is performed only if the .BITNET suffix is present and the database file exists. (See -o for a description of the K command's -o switch.)

You can also provide an extra argument, where that second argument is a literal LDAP:

FEATURE(`bitdomain', `LDAP')

The default in this instance becomes the following (we have wrapped the lines to fit the page):

Kbitdomain ldap -1 -v sendmailMTAMapValue -k (&(objectClass=sendmailMTAMapObject)
(|(sendmailMTACluster=${sendmailMTACluster})(sendmailMTAHost=$j))
(sendmailMTAMapName=bitdomain)(sendmailMTAKey=%0))

See ldap (was ldapx) for a description of the ldap database type and its -1, -v, and -k switches.

Note that you must also define BITNET_RELAY ($B) if you want .BITNET-suffixed mail that is not found in the database to be routed to a relay machine. If BITNET_RELAY is not defined, .BITNET-suffixed mail that is not found in the database is bounced.