NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     vipw - edit the password file

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     vipw

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     vipw edits the password file after setting  the  appropriate
locks, and
     does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked.  If
     the password file is already locked for editing  by  another
user, vipw
     will  ask  you  to  try again later.  The default editor for
vipw is vi(1).

     vipw performs a number of consistency checks on the password
entries, and
     will  not  allow a password file with a ``mangled'' entry to
be installed.
     If vipw rejects the new password file, the user is  prompted
to re-enter
     the edit session.

     Once   the   information   has   been  verified,  vipw  uses
pwd_mkdb(8) to update
     the user database.  This is run in the background,  and,  at
very large
     sites could take several minutes.  Until this update is completed, the
     password file is unavailable for other updates and  the  new
information is
     not available to programs.

     Which  type of cipher is used to encrypt the password information depends
     on the configuration in login.conf(5).

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

     If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by vipw:

     EDITOR   The  editor  specified by the string EDITOR will be
invoked instead
             of the default editor vi(1).

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     chpass(1), passwd(1), login.conf(5), passwd(5),  adduser(8),
pwd_mkdb(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The vipw command appeared in 4.0BSD.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      6,      1993