xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/vipw/vipw.8 (revision 6780ab54325a71e7e70112b11657973edde8655e)
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32.\"     @(#)vipw.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
36.Dt VIPW 8
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm vipw
40.Nd edit the password file
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl d Ar directory
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Nm
47utility edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks,
48and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked.
49If the password file is already locked for editing by another user,
50.Nm
51will ask you
52to try again later.
53The default editor for
54.Nm
55is
56.Xr vi 1 .
57.Pp
58When run without options,
59.Nm
60will work with the password files in
61.Pa /etc .
62The
63.Fl d
64option may be used to specify an alternative
65.Ar directory
66to work with.
67.Pp
68The
69.Nm
70utility performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries,
71and will not allow a password file with a
72.Dq mangled
73entry to be
74installed.
75If
76.Nm
77rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter
78the edit session.
79.Pp
80Once the information has been verified,
81.Nm
82uses
83.Xr pwd_mkdb 8
84to update the user database.  This is run in the background, and,
85at very large sites could take several minutes.  Until this update
86is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates
87and the new information is not available to programs.
88.Sh ENVIRONMENT
89If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by
90.Nm :
91.Bl -tag -width PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS
92.It Ev EDITOR
93The editor specified by the string
94.Ev EDITOR
95will be invoked instead of the default editor
96.Xr vi 1 .
97.It Ev PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS
98See
99.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 .
100.El
101.Sh SEE ALSO
102.Xr chpass 1 ,
103.Xr passwd 1 ,
104.Xr passwd 5 ,
105.Xr adduser 8 ,
106.Xr pwd_mkdb 8
107.Sh HISTORY
108The
109.Nm
110utility appeared in
111.Bx 4.0 .
112