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