xref: /dragonfly/usr.sbin/vipw/vipw.8 (revision 0cfebe3d)
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32.\"     @(#)vipw.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/vipw/vipw.8,v 1.7.2.4 2003/03/11 22:31:34 trhodes Exp $
34.\" $DragonFly: src/usr.sbin/vipw/vipw.8,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:30:04 dillon Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd June 6, 1993
37.Dt VIPW 8
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm vipw
41.Nd edit the password file
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Fl d Ar directory
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46The
47.Nm
48utility edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks,
49and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked.
50If the password file is already locked for editing by another user,
51.Nm
52will ask you
53to try again later.
54The default editor for
55.Nm
56is
57.Xr vi 1 .
58.Pp
59When run without options,
60.Nm
61will work with the password files in
62.Pa /etc .
63The
64.Fl d
65option may be used to specify an alternative
66.Ar directory
67to work with.
68.Pp
69The
70.Nm
71utility performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries,
72and will not allow a password file with a
73.Dq mangled
74entry to be
75installed.
76If
77.Nm
78rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter
79the edit session.
80.Pp
81Once the information has been verified,
82.Nm
83uses
84.Xr pwd_mkdb 8
85to update the user database.  This is run in the background, and,
86at very large sites could take several minutes.  Until this update
87is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates
88and the new information is not available to programs.
89.Sh ENVIRONMENT
90If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by
91.Nm :
92.Bl -tag -width PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS
93.It Ev EDITOR
94The editor specified by the string
95.Ev EDITOR
96will be invoked instead of the default editor
97.Xr vi 1 .
98.It Ev PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS
99See
100.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 .
101.El
102.Sh SEE ALSO
103.Xr chpass 1 ,
104.Xr passwd 1 ,
105.Xr passwd 5 ,
106.Xr adduser 8 ,
107.Xr pwd_mkdb 8
108.Sh HISTORY
109The
110.Nm
111utility appeared in
112.Bx 4.0 .
113