how can i read mail. "you have new mail in /var/spool/mial/root"

should do. oh, and just in case - read
to see what you could do

type 'mail' its probably a bunch of cron jobs - i just 'rm /var/spool/mail/root' whenever it says that.

I'm no expert but...
Depending on what email app you use...

In my email app (Sylpheed) I made a user profile or account that gets mail from
root@linux.local
and I tell it that the local mailbox is /var/mail.

I have had some trouble figuring out how to get, in my inbox, all the mail from e.g. root, cups (the print server) and HylaFax (a fax server).

I have another email 'account' where I collect messages from
my_user_name@my_system's_name.localhost
The mailbox for that is also /var/mail.

And one for
root@my_system's_name.localhost
also in /var/mail.

Of course you can also just go to /var/mail and read the messages with a text editor. But it is nicer to pick them up with your usual emails. I have Sylpheed set to "Get mail from all accounts" or some such option.

Good luck.

You can also use mutt which may be already installed depending on your distro