(emacs.info) Rmail Inbox

 
 Rmail Files and Inboxes
 =======================
 
    The operating system places incoming mail for you in a file that we
 call your "inbox".  When you start up Rmail, it runs a C program called
 `movemail' to copy the new messages from your inbox into your primary
 Rmail file, which also contains other messages saved from previous
 Rmail sessions.  It is in this file that you actually read the mail
 with Rmail.  This operation is called "getting new mail".  You can get
 new mail at any time in Rmail by typing `g'.
 
    The variable `rmail-primary-inbox-list' contains a list of the files
 which are inboxes for your primary Rmail file.  If you don't set this
 variable explicitly, it is initialized from the `MAIL' environment
 variable, or, as a last resort, set to `nil', which means to use the
 default inbox.  The default inbox is `/var/mail/USERNAME',
 `/usr/spool/mail/USERNAME', or `/usr/mail/USERNAME', depending on your
 operating system.
 
    To see what the default is on your system, use `C-h v
 rmail-primary-inbox <RET>'.  You can specify the inbox file(s) for any
 Rmail file with the command `set-rmail-inbox-list'; see  Rmail
 Files.
 
    There are two reasons for having separate Rmail files and inboxes.
 
   1. The inbox file format varies between operating systems and
      according to the other mail software in use.  Only one part of
      Rmail needs to know about the alternatives, and it need only
      understand how to convert all of them to Rmail's own format.
 
   2. It is very cumbersome to access an inbox file without danger of
      losing mail, because it is necessary to interlock with mail
      delivery.  Moreover, different operating systems use different
      interlocking techniques.  The strategy of moving mail out of the
      inbox once and for all into a separate Rmail file avoids the need
      for interlocking in all the rest of Rmail, since only Rmail
      operates on the Rmail file.
 
    Rmail was written to use Babyl format as its internal format.  Since
 then, we have recognized that the usual inbox format on Unix and GNU
 systems is adequate for the job, and we plan to change Rmail to use that
 as its internal format.  However, the Rmail file will still be separate
 from the inbox file, even on systems where their format is the same.
Info Catalog
(emacs.info) Rmail Deletion
(emacs.info) Rmail
(emacs.info) Rmail Files
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