+.LP
+Thus the following files and variables are read, in order:
+.nf
+ variable $LDAPNOINIT, and if that is not set:
+ system file ETCDIR/ldap.conf,
+ user files $HOME/ldaprc, $HOME/.ldaprc, ./ldaprc,
+ system file $LDAPCONF,
+ user files $HOME/$LDAPRC, $HOME/.$LDAPRC, ./$LDAPRC,
+ variables $LDAP<uppercase option name>.
+.fi
+Settings late in the list override earlier ones.
+.SH SYNTAX
+The configuration options are case-insensitive;
+their value, on a case by case basis, may be case-sensitive.
+.LP
+Blank lines are ignored.
+.br
+Lines beginning with a hash mark (`#') are comments, and ignored.
+.LP
+Valid lines are made of an option's name (a sequence of non-blanks,
+conventionally written in uppercase, although not required),
+followed by a value.
+The value starts with the first non-blank character after
+the option's name, and terminates at the end of the line,
+or at the last sequence of blanks before the end of the line.
+The tokenization of the value, if any, is delegated to the handler(s)
+for that option, if any. Quoting values that contain blanks
+may be incorrect, as the quotes would become part of the value.
+For example,
+
+.nf
+ # Wrong - erroneous quotes:
+ URI "ldap:// ldaps://"
+
+ # Right - space-separated list of URIs, without quotes:
+ URI ldap:// ldaps://
+
+ # Right - DN syntax needs quoting for Example, Inc:
+ BASE ou=IT staff,o="Example, Inc",c=US
+ # or:
+ BASE ou=IT staff,o=Example2C Inc,c=US
+
+ # Wrong - comment on same line as option:
+ DEREF never # Never follow aliases
+.fi
+.LP
+A line cannot be longer than LINE_MAX, which should be more than 2000 bytes
+on all platforms.
+There is no mechanism to split a long line on multiple lines, either for
+beautification or to overcome the above limit.