.\" $OpenBSD: vipw.8,v 1.13 2016/08/14 14:57:15 tb Exp $ .\" $NetBSD: vipw.8,v 1.4 1995/01/20 19:19:56 mycroft Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)vipw.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: August 14 2016 $ .Dt VIPW 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm vipw .Nd edit the password file .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm vipw .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm 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, .Nm will ask you to try again later. The default editor for .Nm is .Xr vi 1 . .Pp .Nm performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, and will not allow a password file with a .Dq mangled entry to be installed. If .Nm rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter the edit session. .Pp Once the information has been verified, .Nm uses .Xr 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. .Pp Which type of cipher is used to encrypt the password information depends on the configuration in .Xr login.conf 5 . .Sh ENVIRONMENT If the following environment variable exists it will be utilized by .Nm vipw : .Bl -tag -width EDITOR .It Ev EDITOR The editor specified by the string .Ev EDITOR will be invoked instead of the default editor .Xr vi 1 . .El .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width "/etc/master.passwdXXX" -compact .It Pa /etc/master.passwd Current password file. .It Pa /etc/passwd Legacy password file. .It Pa /etc/ptmp Password lock file. .It Pa /etc/pwd.db Insecure password database file. .It Pa /etc/spwd.db Secure password database file. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr chpass 1 , .Xr passwd 1 , .Xr login.conf 5 , .Xr passwd 5 , .Xr adduser 8 , .Xr pwd_mkdb 8 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm command appeared in .Bx 4.0 .