Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) Tips
Enabling IPv6 temporary address on Mac OS X
On Mac OS X (of version <=10.6.4, as far as we know), IPv6 temporary address is disabled by default. From the point view of privacy, it may be recommended to use temporary address instead of EUI-64 IPv6 address because EUI-64 IPv6 address, which is automatically generated from MAC address, reveals the hardware identity (i.e., MAC address).
- To enable IPv6 temporary address on your Mac OS X,
type the following command:
$ sudo sysctl -w net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=1
- To enable it on boot, add the following line
to /etc/sysctl.conf:
net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=1
Background image on login screen
As far as we know as of August 2010, we cannot change the background image on login screen (just after startup) via "System Preferences.app". We can change it by replacing the file /System/Library/CoreServices/DefaultDesktop.jpg by your preferred JPEG file.
Optimizing Mail.app on Mac OS X
The Mail.app on Mac OS X started to use sqlite for its mail indexing from one version; I'm not sure about the date/version, but it was maybe from Leopard or Snow Leopard of Mac OS X. We confirmed this with Version 4.3 (1081) of Mail.app.
Sqlite makes cache etc., and consequently, we should periodically run vacuum command not to make it slow, as follows:
- Quit Mail.app
- Open database with sqlite:
$ sqlite3 ~/Library/Mail/Envelope\ Index
- Run vacuum command:
sqlite> vacuum subjects;
- Exit from sqlite CLI:
.quit