On some IRC networks, you re required to run an ident server on your Mac. On pre OS X systems, ircle did this for you. On OS X this can no longer be done, for security reasons.
To get identd running on OS X, you'll need to edit your /etc/inetd.conffile. Now follows real unix stuff :).Step 1.Open your Terminal application. (Found in the Utilities folder insideyour Applications folder)typesudo pico /etc/inetd.conf <return key>enter the root/administrator password (probably your normal password).you are now editing the inetd.conf file with the pico editor as 'root', the administrator.the objective is to change the line:#identd stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120or#auth stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120to:auth stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120Use the cursor or the cntl-v/cntl-y keys to move through the document.The line you want is probably at the very bottom. Cursor over the "#identd" partand backspace until it is gone. Then enter "auth" in this space. Usecontrol-O to save the file. Confirm that the name of thefile is inetd.conf and hit enter. Control-X leaves the application.When your inetd.conf does not happen to have a line with #auth or #identd,you can simply insert it somewhere in the file.insert: auth stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120
Step 2. Restart InetdInetd is a background process that dispatches all network requests.Now that you edited the config file, you need to restart inetd.Restart your Mac the old fashioned way (â•¥Restartâ•™ from the Special Menu or type shutdown -r now <return key>in the terminal OR (when you dont want to restart your mac)just 'kill'inetd services by typing the following into the terminal:ps aux | grep inetd <return key>The command should return something like this:
'ps' lists all running processes on your Mac. the grep command filters that list.root 181 0.0 0.2 2272 316 ?? Ss 0:00.00 inetdthen type:sudo kill -HUP 181The number 181 will vary. It is the first number listed inthe result of 'ps'That's all. You only need to repeat this when you clean install a new Mac OS X version.
