You can use that. However, you should be aware that vi (and its companions) are available on ALL *nix variants and AFAIK no other editor has that distinction.
True. I was just wondering if there was some feature in emacs for editing password files and doing the needed locking. I know there are plenty of other special-purpose modes for doing things like DNS zone file editing and version control management.
Everyone is free to use what they want, but all *should* be familiar enough with vi to muddle through in those conditions where no other editor is available. (Boot from rescue CD or to single user mode are two examples.)
Fortunately I've never found myself in that situation. Either another machine is around that lets me look at an online vi reference, or the rescue media has emacs or a dumbed-down clone with the same basic command set. Now that CD's are the rescue media of choice, there's plenty of space for a "big" editor.
