NAME
vipw — edit the password file
DESCRIPTION
vipw
edits the password file while setting the appropriate locks,
and does any necessary processing after the password file is unlocked.
If the password file is already being edited, you will be told
to try again later.
The
vi
editor is used unless the environment variable
EDITOR
indicates an alternate editor.
vipw
performs a number of consistency checks on the password entry for
root,
and does not allow a password file
with an incorrectly formatted root entry to be installed.
WARNINGS
An
/etc/passwd.tmp
file not removed when a system crashes prevents further editing of the
/etc/passwd
file using
vipw
after the system is rebooted.
AUTHOR
vipw
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
