Sharing YP aliases between Ultrix and SunOS

[Dan O'Neill]

We are running YellowPages on our network of DEC and Sun systems and have
found that the 'aliases' portion of YellowPages is incompatible between
the two platforms.  The Suns are in the minority in our operation.

The DEC machines operate as the YP master and YP servers.  The suns are
all set up as clients within the same YP domain.

On the YP master, YP looks at the file /etc/mail.aliases to create the dbm
files for YP distribution.  The format of this file is "alias address".
Please note that there is no ':' after the alias name.

It is my understanding that under Sun OS, if one were running a Sun as the
YP master, the YP alias file would be built from /etc/aliases.  The format
of that file is "alias: address".

DEC seems to use two different files for handling mail aliases.  The
first, /etc/aliases, seems to be used for local mail, the second
/etc/mail.aliases is for YellowPages.

I suspect differences in the vendors implementation of sendmail are
causing these problems.

So, the question is, how do I generate a YP alias list that works for both
platforms?

Do I,   1) Setup a YP domain just for the Sun's?  I'd rather not, as
	   it represents more maintenance work for my group.
	2) Continue to create alias files with :'s separating the
	   names and placing these files into /etc/aliases for the
	   Suns?
	3) Replace both DEC and Sun's sendmail implementations with
	   a public domain version which supports YP aliases in a
	   consistent fashion?

Thanks, I appreciate the help.

Dan O'Neill	dan at asihub.AUTOSYS.COM    {uunet|ncr-sd}!asihub!dan
Automated Systems, Inc.	San Diego R&D