etcpwd.db

/etc/pwd.db

The /etc/pwd.db file is a database version of the public /etc/passwd file. As a computer program can access a database file much more quickly than it can parse a text file, /etc/pwd.db is updated every time /etc/master.passwd changes.

The password database files are the reason why it's so important that you use tools such as chsh(1) and vipw(8) to edit the password file. When the edits are complete these tools automatically run pwd_mkdb(8), keeping the database files in sync. If your /etc/passwd, /etc/master.passwd, and password database files are not synchronized, weird problems will result.

Unless you are a real systems guru and skimming over this chapter because you know everything already, you shouldn't edit /etc/pwd.db directly. Let the password tools do the work for you.