Andrew Brown writes:
> >> maybe chfn needs an alarm to wake it up in case of only the vi process
> >> being killed?
> >
> >wait() works just fine.
> 
> i think you missed the original thrust of the discussion.  wait() will
> not work when chfn has been suspende, and its child (the editor) has
> been killed.  i was suggesting that chfn wake up and notice that the
> editor has been killed and then release its password database lock.

How do you propose to wake chfn up if it is stopped? SIGALRM won't be
delivered, either.

Perry