User - nobody (-2)

S

Stellor

Registered
Very often when I check the activity monitor the last item reads - Process ID - 154, Process Name- mDNSResponder, User - nobody.
I've deleated this a number of times but it keeps coming back. Anybody know what this is, and should it be there?
The User-nobody bothers me, if the system is doing it there should be a name.

G5 DP 200Gig 2Gig
OSX10.3.8

Thanks for any help at all
Sam
 
There is a name- nobody. Seriously :) If you look in netinfo manager, you will find that "nobody" is a legitimate user. I think the idea behind this user is that they don't have any privileges, and so processes running as this user can't damage the system, but I'm not sure on that (anyone care to clarify?). At any rate, mDNSResponder is a valid system process.
 
The user "nobody" is an actual user. To see a list of standard UNIX user accounts, open "Netinfo Manager" in the Utilities folder, then click on "users." You should see a list of 15 or more "users" that UNIX (Mac OS X) uses for various tasks. "Nobody" doesn't mean that there's no name associated with the process, "nobody" is the name associated with that process.

mDNSResponder has to do with Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous).
http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/bonjour/index.html
 
All files that you want to serve on the Internet must be readable by the server while it is running under the permissions of user "nobody"
 
I understand your concerns: Mac OS X is a beast, to say the least. If one goes poking around in the innards of any UNIX system, they're bound to find some file, service, directory, process, thread or any number of system-things that have alarming names or behavior.

Ah, UNIX is beautiful, isn't it? ;)
 
But do be very careful. "Nobody" is a fearsome foe. As we all know, nobody has written a virus for the Mac. Nobody can install system software without root permissions. And nobody can break into your Mac when it is turned off and unplugged from the wall!!
 
Andrew Adamson said:
But do be very careful. "Nobody" is a fearsome foe. As we all know, nobody has written a virus for the Mac. Nobody can install system software without root permissions. And nobody can break into your Mac when it is turned off and unplugged from the wall!!
Click to expand...

well...that's certainly funnier than what i was gonna say :)
 
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