[CentOS] Iptables and impersonating another O/S

Sun Jan 6 20:35:39 UTC 2008
Tom Laramee <laramee at pobox.com>

i have a CentOS 5.1 server running sshd (exposed to the outside world).

i'd like to use iptables to fool nmap into thinking i'm running  
another O/S.

e.g.:
	iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -d 192.168.0.64 -j PERS \
	--tweak dst --local --conf /etc/personalities/macos9.conf

	iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT -d 192.168.0.64 -j PERS \
	--tweak src --local --conf /etc/personalities/macos9.conf


all of the tutorials on iptables i've found take me through steps that  
involve
a kernel recompile ... do i really need to do this?

is there a tutorial that provides a somewhat large degree of detail on  
how
to do what i'm interested in doing? i haven't compiled a kernel in  
approx.
a decade (slackware). of course, i'd like to avoid the kernel  
recompile if
possible.

thanks
--tom