.TH LDAP_OPEN 3 "RELEASEDATE" "OpenLDAP LDVERSION"
.\" $OpenLDAP$
.\" Copyright 1998-2007 The OpenLDAP Foundation All Rights Reserved.
.\" Copying restrictions apply.  See COPYRIGHT/LICENSE.
.SH NAME
ldap_init, ldap_initialize, ldap_open \- Initialize the LDAP library and open a connection to an LDAP server
.SH LIBRARY
OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.ft B
#include <ldap.h>
.LP
.ft B
LDAP *ldap_open(host, port)
.ft
char *host;
int port;
.LP
.ft B
LDAP *ldap_init(host, port)
.ft
char *host;
int port;
.LP
.ft B
int ldap_initialize(ldp, uri)
.ft
LDAP **ldp;
char *uri;
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
.B ldap_open()
opens a connection to an LDAP server and allocates an LDAP
structure which is used to identify
the connection and to maintain per-connection information.
.B ldap_init()
allocates an LDAP structure but does not open an initial connection.
.B ldap_initialize()
allocates an LDAP structure but does not open an initial connection.  One
of these three routines must be called before any operations are attempted.
.LP
.B ldap_open()
takes \fIhost\fP, the hostname on which the LDAP server is
running, and \fIport\fP, the port number to which to connect.  If the default
IANA-assigned port of 389 is desired, LDAP_PORT should be specified for
\fIport\fP.  The \fIhost\fP parameter may contain a blank-separated list
of hosts to try to connect to, and each host may optionally by of the form
\fIhost:port\fP.  If present, the \fI:port\fP overrides the \fIport\fP
parameter to
.BR ldap_open() .
Upon successfully making a connection to an
LDAP server,
.B ldap_open()
returns a pointer to an opaque LDAP structure, which should be passed
to subsequent calls to
.BR ldap_bind() ,
.BR ldap_search() ,
etc. Certain fields in the LDAP structure can be set to indicate size limit,
time limit, and how aliases are handled during operations; read and write access 
to those fields must occur by calling
.BR ldap_get_option (3) 
and
.BR ldap_set_option (3)
respectively, whenever possible.
.LP
.B
ldap_init()
acts just like
.BR ldap_open() ,
but does not open a connection
to the LDAP server.  The actual connection open will occur when the
first operation is attempted.
.LP
.B ldap_initialize()
acts like
.BR ldap_init() ,
but it returns an integer indicating either success or the failure reason,
and it allows to specify details for the connection in the schema portion
of the URI.
.LP
At this time,
.B ldap_open()
and 
.B ldap_init()
are deprecated in favor of
.BR ldap_initialize() ,
essentially because the latter allows to specify a schema in the URI
and it explicitly returns an error code.
.SH ERRORS
If an error occurs,
.B ldap_open()
and
.B ldap_init()
will return NULL and errno should be set appropriately.
.B ldap_initialize()
will directly return the LDAP code associated to the error (or
.I LDAP_SUCCESS
in case of success);
errno should be set as well whenever appropriate.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR ldap (3),
.BR ldap_bind (3),
.BR ldap_get_option (3),
.BR ldap_set_option (3),
.BR errno (3)
.SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
.so ../Project