MacOS – pcscd does not exist in /usr/sbin

macos

I'm trying to install a USB certificate token on OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 (14B25) and the guides tell me to check that a certain daemon named pcscd is running and to start from /usr/sbin/pcscd if not.

Here a link to the guide: http://wiki.infonotary.com/wiki/Installation_of_smart_card_reader_and_smart_card_drivers_in_Mac_OS_X#Manually_running_and_stopping_pcscd

However it does not exist.
I execute:

sh-3.2# cd /usr/sbin
sh-3.2# ls -la |grep pcscd
sh-3.2#

and as visible there is no file named pcscd.

There is also no process called pcscd when running

ps -a -u root

Should I install some additional package for this one?

Best Answer

I managed to resolve this on my own.

Looks like the smartcard was actually working even if the pcscd executable is not present. Most probably the functionality was integrated into another service.

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MacOS – mac: /usr/sbin/diskutil verifyPermissions / hangs in single-user mode

Sounds like your filesystem took a serious beating (if you have to run fsck multiple times, it probably discarded a bunch of stuff in the process). Permission repair (diskutil repairPermissions disk<X>s<Y>) relies on the package receipts kept in /var/db/receipts and will not work successfully if these are damaged or missing (although it shouldn't hang, but who knows what else got blown up).

Assuming you don't have a recent backup of the system (if you do, restore from that), the next step would be to boot from the OS X DVD, launch Disk Utility from there and try it's permission repair. If that doesn't work either, exit Disk Utility and select Archive & Install, which basically moves all system files into /Previous System, reinstalls OS X and leaves the user files intact (or at least as intact as they are now). If you lack the disk space for that, you can also Install (without archiving the old system files). In either case you'll want to check the Preserve existing Users & Network Settings option.

MacOS – How to make the pcscd daemon load at startup on Lion

The problem happens, because securityd (which is supposed to load pcscd) does not start it when you insert your card. Try editing /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.securityd.plist and add -s aggressive switch.

The section should look like this:

<array>
  <string>/usr/sbin/securityd</string>
  <string>-i</string>
  <string>-s</string>
  <string>aggressive</string>
</array>

and then reboot.

This should set securityd in aggressive card detection mode. If there is a -s off or anything like this, probably just removing it should solve your problem.

Hope this helps.

Best Answer

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