>> 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.

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