vipw(8) [netbsd man page]
VIPW(8) BSD System Manager's Manual VIPW(8) NAME
vipw -- edit the password file SYNOPSIS
vipw [-d directory] DESCRIPTION
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. The options are as follows: -d directory Change the root directory of the password file from ``/'' to directory. If a vipw session is killed it may leave ``/etc/ptmp'', which will cause future vipw executions to fail with ``vipw: the passwd file is busy'', until it is removed. ENVIRONMENT
If the following environment variable exists it will be used by vipw: EDITOR The editor specified by the string EDITOR will be invoked instead of the default editor vi(1). FILES
/etc/master.passwd The current password file. /etc/ptmp Temporary copy of the password file used while editing. SEE ALSO
chpass(1), passwd(1), pwhash(1), passwd(5), passwd.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8), user(8) HISTORY
The vipw command appeared in 4.0BSD. BSD
September 4, 2005 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
PASSWD(1) BSD General Commands Manual PASSWD(1) NAME
passwd -- modify a user's password SYNOPSIS
passwd [user] passwd [-d files | -l] [user] passwd [-d nis | -y] [user] passwd [-d krb5 | -k] [principal] DESCRIPTION
passwd changes the user's password. First, the user is prompted for their current password. If the current password is correctly typed, a new password is requested. The new password must be entered twice to avoid typing errors. The new password should be at least six characters long and not purely alphabetic. Its total length must be less than _PASSWORD_LEN (cur- rently 128 characters). Numbers, upper case letters and meta characters are encouraged. All options may not be available on all systems. -d database This option specifies the password database that should be updated. The following databases are supported: files This specifies that the password change should be applied to the local password file. When changing only the local password, passwd uses pwd_mkdb(8) to update the password databases. nis This specifies that the password change should be applied to the NIS password database. The rpc.yppasswdd(8) daemon should be running on the master NIS server. krb5 This specifies that the user's Kerberos 5 password should be changed. The host must be configured to use Kerberos. See krb5.conf(5). -l This is the equivalent of -d files. -y This is the equivalent of -d nis. -k This is the equivalent of -d krb5. If a password database is not specified, passwd will change the password database as determined by the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) library. The type of cipher used to encrypt the password depends on the configuration in passwd.conf(5). It can be different for local and NIS pass- words. FILES
/etc/master.passwd The user database /etc/passwd A Version 7 format password file /etc/passwd.XXXXXX Temporary copy of the password file SEE ALSO
chpass(1), login(1), pwhash(1), passwd(5), passwd.conf(5), pam(8), pwd_mkdb(8), vipw(8) Robert Morris and Ken Thompson, UNIX password security. HISTORY
A passwd command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. BSD
February 25, 2005 BSD