Edit /etc/passwd correctly

In my recent guides, you might have noticed that I sometimes edit /etc/passwd directly with vi or nano. This is not advised behavior. The main reason being the possibility of file corruption and other users making changes to their account while you are editing. The latter is not very likely to happen as I am the only user on the system. In any case, here's how to do it more properly.

Use vipw

vipw is a command line utility designed to make edits to the /etc/passwd file and prevents corruption by setting appropriate locks. You will need elevated privileges to edit /etc/passwd.

$ sudo vipw

It might ask you to pick an editor you want to use, usually nano or vi. Choose which one you prefer and the file will open, ready to be edited. I usually do this to edit shell for a service user, but do whatever you like.