How is net connection selected?

[Duane Attaway]

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004, Greg Kedrovsky wrote:

> So, is there an easy explanation about how this works - how fetchmail
> and sendmail "choose" how to connect to the net?

Sendmail just looks up the address you want to send it to, attempts to
make a connection, and if it gets it, sends it.  There are other options,
like smarthosting to a specified server relay if it can't make the
connection, or relay all through another server.

Fetchmail connects to a mail server you specified, connects, and transfers
the mail spool onto your computer.

That's about it.