1.\" $NetBSD: vipw.8,v 1.15 2005/09/05 03:37:15 hubertf 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.Bk -words 41.Op Fl d Ar directory 42.Ek 43.Sh DESCRIPTION 44.Nm 45edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks, 46and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked. 47If the password file is already locked for editing by another user, 48.Nm 49will ask you 50to try again later. The default editor for 51.Nm 52is 53.Xr vi 1 . 54.Pp 55.Nm 56performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 57and will not allow a password file with a 58.Dq mangled 59entry to be 60installed. 61If 62.Nm 63rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 64the edit session. 65.Pp 66Once the information has been verified, 67.Nm 68uses 69.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 70to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 71at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 72is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 73and the new information is not available to programs. 74.Pp 75The options are as follows: 76.Bl -tag -width flag 77.It Fl d Ar directory 78Change the root directory of the password file from 79.Dq Pa / 80to 81.Ar directory . 82.El 83.Pp 84If a 85.Nm 86session is killed it may leave 87.Dq Pa /etc/ptmp , 88which will cause future 89.Nm 90executions to fail with 91.Dq Pa vipw: the passwd file is busy , 92until it is removed. 93.Sh ENVIRONMENT 94If the following environment variable exists it will be used by 95.Nm : 96.Bl -tag -width EDITOR 97.It Ev EDITOR 98The editor specified by the string 99.Ev EDITOR 100will be invoked instead of the default editor 101.Xr vi 1 . 102.El 103.Sh FILES 104.Bl -tag -width Pa -compact 105.It Pa /etc/master.passwd 106The current password file. 107.It Pa /etc/ptmp 108Temporary copy of the password file used while editing. 109.El 110.Sh SEE ALSO 111.Xr chpass 1 , 112.Xr passwd 1 , 113.Xr pwhash 1 , 114.Xr passwd 5 , 115.Xr passwd.conf 5 , 116.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 , 117.Xr user 8 118.Sh HISTORY 119The 120.Nm 121command appeared in 122.Bx 4.0 . 123