VIPW(8) BSD System Manager's Manual VIPW(8)NAMEvipw — edit the password file
SYNOPSISvipw [-d directory]
DESCRIPTION
The vipw utility edits the password file after setting the appropriate
locks, and does any necessary processing after the password file is
unlocked. If the password file is already locked for editing by another
user, vipw will ask you to try again later. The default editor for vipw
is vi(1).
When run without options, vipw will work with the password files in /etc.
The -d option may be used to specify an alternative directory to work
with.
The vipw utility performs a number of consistency checks on the password
entries, and will not allow a password file with a “mangled” entry to be
installed. If vipw rejects the new password file, the user is prompted
to re-enter the edit session.
Once the information has been verified, vipw uses pwd_mkdb(8) to update
the user database. This is run in the background, and, at very large
sites could take several minutes. Until this update is completed, the
password file is unavailable for other updates and the new information is
not available to programs.
ENVIRONMENT
If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by vipw:
EDITOR The editor specified by the string EDITOR will be
invoked instead of the default editor vi(1).
PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS See pwd_mkdb(8).
SEE ALSOchpass(1), passwd(1), passwd(5), adduser(8), pwd_mkdb(8)HISTORY
The vipw utility appeared in 4.0BSD.
BSD June 6, 1993 BSD
