rework the password subsystem

[unix-history] / usr / src / usr.sbin / vipw / vipw.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\"
.\"     @(#)vipw.8      6.6 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.TH VIPW 8 ""
.UC 4
.SH NAME
vipw \- edit the password file
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vipw
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Vipw
locks the password file and makes a temporary copy of it for editing.
The user's editor (or by default, 
.IR vi (1))
is run on the copied file.
.PP
Once the file has been edited,
.I vipw
runs the program
.IR pwd_mkdb (8).
.I Pwd_mkdb
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
.I pwd_mkdb
rejects the new file, the user is prompted to re-enter the edit session.
Once the file is found to be satisfactory,
.I pwd_mkdb
installs it as the new password file.
.PP
If the password file is already locked, you will be told to try again
later.
.SH FILES
/var/db/pwd.db                  Insecure password database file
.br
/var/db/spwd.db         The secure password database file
.br
/etc/master.passwd              The current password file
.br
/etc/passwd                     A Version 7 format password file
.br
/etc/vipw.XXXXXX                Temporary copy of the password file
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.TP
EDITOR
The editor used; the default is
.IR vi (1).
Any user specified editor is expected to take the file name it will
edit as its first argument.
.SH SEE ALSO
chpass(1), passwd(1), passwd(5), adduser(8), pwd_mkdb(8)