37.17 Converting an Rmail File to Inbox Format

The command M-x unrmail converts a file in Rmail format to inbox format (also known as the system mailbox, or mbox, format), so that you can use it with other mail-editing tools. You must specify two arguments, the name of the Rmail file and the name to use for the converted file. M-x unrmail does not alter the Rmail file itself.

M-x unrmail is useful if you can run Emacs on the machine where the Rmail file resides, or can access the Rmail file remotely (see Remote Files) from a machine where Emacs is installed. If accessing Rmail files from Emacs is impossible, you can use the b2m program instead. b2m is part of the Emacs distribution, it is installed into the same directory where all the other auxiliary programs (etags etc.) are installed, and its source is available in the Emacs source distribution, so that you could copy the source to the target machine and compile it there.

To convert a file babyl-file into mbox-file, invoke b2m like this:

      b2m < babyl-file > mbox-file