Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

5.7 /var/mail : User mailbox files

This directory contains user mailbox files stored in the standard UNIX mailbox format.

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This directory was relocated from /var/spool/mail in order to bring FHS in-line with nearly every UNIX implementation. This change is important for inter-operability since a single /var/mail is often shared between multiple hosts and multiple UNIX implementations (despite NFS locking issues).

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