Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!tekcrl!eirik
From: eirik@tekcrl.TEK.COM (Eirik Fuller)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: vipw - the program
Summary: does anything else know of ptmp?
Message-ID: <3182@tekcrl.CRL.TEK.COM>
Date: 19 Oct 88 17:21:21 GMT
References: <218@fantasci.UUCP> <14043@mimsy.UUCP>
Sender: ftp@tekcrl.CRL.TEK.COM
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 9

I like these scripts to implement vipw, but I wonder, do systems
without vipw know about /etc/ptmp?  The point of vipw as I understand
it is that /bin/passwd knows enough not to change a password if
something else (vipw, for instance) is in the middle of changing
/etc/passwd.  Seems to me vipw as a script buys you something only if
a) /bin/passwd already knows of /etc/ptmp or b) /bin/passwd is rigged
to know of /etc/ptmp.

Of course, it's a simple matter to make a front end to /bin/passwd ...