- In some cases, Rmail copies the new mail from the inbox file
-indirectly. First it runs the @code{movemail} program to move the mail
-from the inbox to an intermediate file called
-@file{~/.newmail-@var{inboxname}}. Then Rmail merges the new mail from
-that file, saves the Rmail file, and only then deletes the intermediate
-file. If there is a crash at the wrong time, this file continues to
-exist, and Rmail will use it again the next time it gets new mail from
-that inbox.
+@noindent
+where square brackets denote optional elements.
+
+@table @var
+@item proto
+Specifies the @dfn{mailbox protocol}, or @dfn{format} to
+use. The exact semantics of the rest of @acronym{URL} elements depends
+on the actual value of @var{proto} (see below).
+
+@item user
+User name to access the remote mailbox.
+
+@item password
+User password to access the remote mailbox.
+
+@item host-or-file-name
+Hostname of the remote server for remote mailboxes or file name of a
+local mailbox.
+@end table
+
+@noindent
+@var{Proto} can be one of:
+
+@table @code
+@item mbox
+Usual UNIX mailbox format. In this case, neither @var{user} nor
+@var{pass} are used, and @var{host-or-file-name} denotes the file name of
+the mailbox file, e.g., @code{mbox://var/spool/mail/smith}.
+
+@item mh
+A local mailbox in the @acronym{MH} format. @var{User} and
+@var{pass} are not used. @var{Host-or-file-name} denotes the name of
+@acronym{MH} folder, e.g., @code{mh://Mail/inbox}.
+
+@item maildir
+A local mailbox in the @acronym{maildir} format. @var{User} and
+@var{pass} are not used, and @var{host-or-file-name} denotes the name of
+@code{maildir} mailbox, e.g., @code{maildir://mail/inbox}.
+
+@item file
+Any local mailbox format. Its actual format is detected automatically
+by @code{movemail}.
+
+@item pop
+A remote mailbox to be accessed via POP3 protocol. @var{User}
+specifies the remote user name to use, @var{pass} may be used to
+specify the user password, @var{host-or-file-name} is the name or IP
+address of the remote mail server to connect to; e.g.,
+@code{pop://smith:guessme@@remote.server.net}.
+
+@item imap
+A remote mailbox to be accessed via IMAP4 protocol. @var{User}
+specifies the remote user name to use, @var{pass} may be used to
+specify the user password, @var{host-or-file-name} is the name or IP
+address of the remote mail server to connect to;
+e.g., @code{imap://smith:guessme@@remote.server.net}.
+@end table
+
+ Alternatively, you can specify the file name of the mailbox to use.
+This is equivalent to specifying the @samp{file} protocol:
+
+@smallexample
+/var/spool/mail/@var{user} @equiv{} file://var/spool/mail/@var{user}
+@end smallexample
+
+@vindex rmail-movemail-program
+@vindex rmail-movemail-search-path
+ The variable @code{rmail-movemail-program} controls which version of
+@code{movemail} to use. If that is a string, it specifies the
+absolute file name of the @code{movemail} executable. If it is
+@code{nil}, Rmail searches for @code{movemail} in the directories
+listed in @code{rmail-movemail-search-path} and @code{exec-path}, then
+in @code{exec-directory}.