1.\" $NetBSD: vipw.8,v 1.16 2012/04/08 22:00:41 wiz 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. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)vipw.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 31.\" 32.Dd September 4, 2005 33.Dt VIPW 8 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm vipw 37.Nd edit the password file 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Nm 40.Op Fl d Ar directory 41.Sh DESCRIPTION 42.Nm 43edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks, 44and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked. 45If the password file is already locked for editing by another user, 46.Nm 47will ask you 48to try again later. The default editor for 49.Nm 50is 51.Xr vi 1 . 52.Pp 53.Nm 54performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 55and will not allow a password file with a 56.Dq mangled 57entry to be 58installed. 59If 60.Nm 61rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 62the edit session. 63.Pp 64Once the information has been verified, 65.Nm 66uses 67.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 68to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 69at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 70is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 71and the new information is not available to programs. 72.Pp 73The options are as follows: 74.Bl -tag -width flag 75.It Fl d Ar directory 76Change the root directory of the password file from 77.Dq Pa / 78to 79.Ar directory . 80.El 81.Pp 82If a 83.Nm 84session is killed it may leave 85.Dq Pa /etc/ptmp , 86which will cause future 87.Nm 88executions to fail with 89.Dq Pa vipw: the passwd file is busy , 90until it is removed. 91.Sh ENVIRONMENT 92If the following environment variable exists it will be used by 93.Nm : 94.Bl -tag -width EDITOR 95.It Ev EDITOR 96The editor specified by the string 97.Ev EDITOR 98will be invoked instead of the default editor 99.Xr vi 1 . 100.El 101.Sh FILES 102.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact 103.It Pa /etc/master.passwd 104The current password file. 105.It Pa /etc/ptmp 106Temporary copy of the password file used while editing. 107.El 108.Sh SEE ALSO 109.Xr chpass 1 , 110.Xr passwd 1 , 111.Xr pwhash 1 , 112.Xr passwd 5 , 113.Xr passwd.conf 5 , 114.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 , 115.Xr user 8 116.Sh HISTORY 117The 118.Nm 119command appeared in 120.Bx 4.0 . 121