# Installing oidentd

oidentd helps provide ident, which is necessary if you're providing a public bouncer or shell account. Ident helps you uniquely identify your users on IRC. Even if a user changes his nick, you can figure out which user it was on your system based on his ident. This makes it easier to prevent abuse.

First, we install oidentd:

    $ doas pkg_add oidentd


Afterwards, inside /etc/rc.local, we put the following:

    if [ -x /usr/local/sbin/oidentd ]; then
            echo -n ' oidentd';     /usr/local/sbin/oidentd -u _identd -g _identd
    fi


**Warning**: Do not use -a :: as suggested in znc's wiki or ident will not work for IPv4.

This ensures that oident starts at bootup and runs as the user and group _identd.

Now, to start oidentd, run:

    $ doas /usr/local/sbin/oidentd -u _identd -g _identd


## Spoofing Ident (Optional)

If you need to spoof ident replies, put this inside /etc/oidentd.conf:

    user "username" {
        default {
            allow spoof
            allow spoof_all
        }
    }


For example, [ZNC](/oidentd/ZNC) needs ident spoofing to work.

If you want to force an ident reply, use

    user "username" {
        default {
            force reply "botnick"
        }
    }


Replace botnick with your desired ident.