Dangers of vi & passwd (Was Re: SVR3 passwd changes mode of passwd file)

[Miles O'Neal]

In article <426 at fciva.FRANKLIN.COM>, dag at fciva.FRANKLIN.COM (Daniel A. Graifer) writes:
> The reason is simple: I load up the file with vi.  Someone else issues a
> passwd command to change their passwd.  I save my changes.  Poor someone
> else looses out.  I guess I should have thought of that!

On the other hand, having more than 1 person with responsibility to
maintain /etc/passwd simultaneously is something I avoid anyway.

Is there a vigr for /etc/group? I never saw 1...

Finally, the 2 vipw's I have seen used both messed with the file
permissions, and left them different than I found them (related to
other discussion here recently...)