What looks at the passwd file?

[Patrick Barron]

Does anyone know if any of the "standard" Unix utilites look at the passwd
file to determine your home directory, instead of looking at $HOME?  (except,
of course, authenication programs like login and su, which have to.)  How
about other commonly used non-standard software (e.g., Gnu Emacs, MH, etc.).

I'm referring to 4.2/4.3BSD derived systems here.

Thanks,
--Pat.