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. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 13.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 14.\" without specific prior written permission. 15.\" 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 27.\" 28.\" @(#)vipw.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 29.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/vipw/vipw.8,v 1.7.2.4 2003/03/11 22:31:34 trhodes Exp $ 30.\" 31.Dd June 9, 2021 32.Dt VIPW 8 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm vipw 36.Nd edit the password file 37.Sh SYNOPSIS 38.Nm 39.Op Fl d Ar directory 40.Sh DESCRIPTION 41The 42.Nm 43utility edits 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. 49The default editor for 50.Nm 51is 52.Xr vi 1 . 53.Pp 54When run without options, 55.Nm 56will work with the password files in 57.Pa /etc . 58The 59.Fl d 60option may be used to specify an alternative 61.Ar directory 62to work with. 63.Pp 64The 65.Nm 66utility performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 67and will not allow a password file with a 68.Dq mangled 69entry to be 70installed. 71If 72.Nm 73rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 74the edit session. 75.Pp 76Once the information has been verified, 77.Nm 78uses 79.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 80to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 81at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 82is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 83and the new information is not available to programs. 84.Sh ENVIRONMENT 85If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by 86.Nm : 87.Bl -tag -width ".Ev EDITOR" 88.It Ev EDITOR 89The editor specified by the string 90.Ev EDITOR 91will be invoked instead of the default editor 92.Xr vi 1 . 93.El 94.Sh SEE ALSO 95.Xr chpass 1 , 96.Xr passwd 1 , 97.Xr passwd 5 , 98.Xr adduser 8 , 99.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 100.Sh HISTORY 101The 102.Nm 103utility appeared in 104.Bx 4.0 . 105