identd is a user identification protocol specific in RFP1413 which many applications require, even though it is untrustworthy and useless and easy to get around. That said, many applications will require that a valid response is received in order to work properly. In my case, it was IRC (Internet Relay Chat) servers.
Normally you can enter a Terminal session and use pico with sudo to edit the /etc/inetd.conf to change the line
#ident stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120to
auth stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120However, when you are using an AirPort base station, the process your are responding to won't like the IP address it is getting back. An easy solution is to install Brian Young's nullidentd. Read the rest of the article for the how-to...
I did the following:
auth stream tcp wait root /usr/libexec/tcpd identd -w -t120with
auth stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/local/sbin/nullidentd nullidentd
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030111083215373