vipw

vipw is a small computer program which enables a Unix system administrator to safely and securely edit user or group-related files while setting a proper lock to prevent other users from modifying them until they are saved by the current user.^[1]

The following is the list of user and group files that can be modified by the vipw utility.

“/etc/passwd“: User account information.
“/etc/shadow“: Secure user account information.
“/etc/group“: Group account information.
“/etc/gshadow“: Secure group account information.

This way, you can edit the system files securely using your favorite editor set to the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment variable, instead of accessing them directly from the CLI editor like GNU Nano or VIM. , which is insecure.

References

^ Redfield, David. "Linux Vipw and Vigr Commands Explained".

The vipw manpage, 26 September 1997, in the Debian passwd package version 1:4.0.13-6

External links

vipw man page

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[1] Redfield, David. "Linux Vipw and Vigr Commands Explained".

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