.\" Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
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.\"	@(#)vipw.8	6.4 (Berkeley) 3/11/89
.\"
.TH VIPW 8 "March 11, 1989"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
vipw \- edit the password file
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vipw
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I 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, then you will be told
to try again later.
The 
.I vi
editor will be used unless the environment variable EDITOR indicates
an alternate editor.  
.PP
.I 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
.I vipw
rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter
the edit session.
.PP
Once the information has been verified,
.I vipw
uses
.IR mkpasswd (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 will not be available to programs.
.SH SEE ALSO
chpass(1), passwd(1), passwd(5), adduser(8), mkpasswd(8)