1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)vipw.8 6.7 (Berkeley) 03/16/91 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt VIPW 8 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm vipw 13.Nd edit the password file 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Nm vipw 16.Sh DESCRIPTION 17.Nm Vipw 18edits the password file after setting the appropriate locks, 19and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked. 20If the password file is already locked for editing by another user, 21.Nm vipw 22will ask you 23to try again later. The default editor for 24.Nm vipw 25is 26.Xr vi 1 . 27.Pp 28.Nm Vipw 29performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, 30and will not allow a password file with a 31.Dq mangled 32entry to be 33installed. 34If 35.Nm vipw 36rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter 37the edit session. 38.Pp 39Once the information has been verified, 40.Nm vipw 41uses 42.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 43to update the user database. This is run in the background, and, 44at very large sites could take several minutes. Until this update 45is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates 46and the new information is not available to programs. 47.Sh ENVIRONMENT 48If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by 49.Nm vipw : 50.Bl -tag -width EDITOR 51.It Ev EDITOR 52The editor specified by the string 53.Ev EDITOR 54will be invoked instead of the default editor 55.Xr vi 1 . 56.El 57.Sh SEE ALSO 58.Xr chpass 1 , 59.Xr passwd 1 , 60.Xr passwd 5 , 61.Xr adduser 8 , 62.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 63.Sh HISTORY 64The 65.Nm 66command appeared in 67.Bx 4.0 . 68