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.\" $FreeBSD$ 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 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 50will ask you 51to try again later. 52The default editor for 53.Nm 54is 55.Xr vi 1 . 56.Pp 57When run without options, 58.Nm 59will work with the password files in 60.Pa /etc . 61The 62.Fl d 63option may be used to specify an alternative 64.Ar directory 65to work with. 66.Pp 67.Nm Vipw 68performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 69and will not allow a password file with a 70.Dq mangled 71entry to be 72installed. 73If 74.Nm 75rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 76the edit session. 77.Pp 78Once the information has been verified, 79.Nm 80uses 81.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 82to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 83at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 84is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 85and the new information is not available to programs. 86.Sh ENVIRONMENT 87If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by 88.Nm : 89.Bl -tag -width PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS 90.It Ev EDITOR 91The editor specified by the string 92.Ev EDITOR 93will be invoked instead of the default editor 94.Xr vi 1 . 95.It Ev PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS 96See 97.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 . 98.El 99.Sh SEE ALSO 100.Xr chpass 1 , 101.Xr passwd 1 , 102.Xr passwd 5 , 103.Xr adduser 8 , 104.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 105.Sh HISTORY 106The 107.Nm 108command appeared in 109.Bx 4.0 . 110