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MMDF uses the information in the configuration files to route mail on your system. Note that MMDF never searches the alias, channel, and domain tables directly, but instead searches the hashed dbm database. See ``Rebuilding the hashed database''.
Mail arrives at and leaves computers using one of several different methods (such as UUCP, or TCP/IP) called ``channels''. The MMDF submit(ADM) command accepts the incoming mail from a channel and determines the correct outgoing channel to use based on the destination host. The submit program uses the information in the domain tables to map the way the incoming mail describes the destination host to the way the host recognizes that destination host. Based on the host description, submit uses the channel tables to determine the outgoing channel to use to route the message and places the message in the appropriate queue.
Then, using the information from /usr/mmdf/mmdftailor, deliver(ADM) moves the mail from the queue to the appropriate channel. For example, if submit places a message in the UUCP channel queue, deliver moves that message to the UUCP channel. The deliver command can also place mail in a channel and let another program (such as uux(C) for the UUCP channel) carry out additional steps to resolve the circumstances dictated by the type of channel. The channel program sends the mail across the network to the proper destination.