1.\" $NetBSD: vipw.8,v 1.4 1995/01/20 19:19:56 mycroft Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)vipw.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 35.\" 36.Dd June 6, 1993 37.Dt VIPW 8 38.Os BSD 4 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm vipw 41.Nd edit the password file 42.Sh SYNOPSIS 43.Nm vipw 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45.Nm Vipw 46edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks, 47and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked. 48If the password file is already locked for editing by another user, 49.Nm vipw 50will ask you 51to try again later. The default editor for 52.Nm vipw 53is 54.Xr vi 1 . 55.Pp 56.Nm Vipw 57performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 58and will not allow a password file with a 59.Dq mangled 60entry to be 61installed. 62If 63.Nm vipw 64rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 65the edit session. 66.Pp 67Once the information has been verified, 68.Nm vipw 69uses 70.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 71to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 72at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 73is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 74and the new information is not available to programs. 75.Sh ENVIRONMENT 76If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by 77.Nm vipw : 78.Bl -tag -width EDITOR 79.It Ev EDITOR 80The editor specified by the string 81.Ev EDITOR 82will be invoked instead of the default editor 83.Xr vi 1 . 84.El 85.Sh SEE ALSO 86.Xr chpass 1 , 87.Xr passwd 1 , 88.Xr passwd 5 , 89.Xr adduser 8 , 90.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 91.Sh HISTORY 92The 93.Nm 94command appeared in 95.Bx 4.0 . 96