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