-.TH LDIF 5 "22 September 1998" "OpenLDAP LDVERSION"
+.TH LDIF 5 "RELEASEDATE" "OpenLDAP LDVERSION"
+.\" $OpenLDAP$
+.\" Copyright 1998-2012 The OpenLDAP Foundation All Rights Reserved.
+.\" Copying restrictions apply. See COPYRIGHT/LICENSE.
.SH NAME
ldif \- LDAP Data Interchange Format
.SH DESCRIPTION
The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is used to represent LDAP
-entries in text form. The
-.BR ldif2ldbm (8)
-tools can be used to convert from LDIF format to the LDBM format
-used by
-.BR slapd (8).
-The
-.BR ldbmcat (8)
-tool can be used to do the reverse conversion. See "The SLAPD and
-SLURPD Administrator's Guide" for more information on this format and
-the conversion tools.
-.LP
-The basic form of an LDIF entry is:
+entries and change records in text form. LDAP tools, such as
+.BR ldapadd (1)
+and
+.BR ldapsearch (1),
+read and write LDIF entry
+records.
+.BR ldapmodify (1)
+reads LDIF change records.
+.LP
+This manual page provides a basic description of LDIF. A
+formal specification of LDIF is published in RFC 2849.
+.SH ENTRY RECORDS
+.LP
+LDIF entry records are used to represent directory entries. The basic
+form of an entry record is:
.LP
.nf
.ft tt
- [<id>]
dn: <distinguished name>
- <attrtype>: <attrvalue>
- <attrtype>: <attrvalue>
+ <attrdesc>: <attrvalue>
+ <attrdesc>: <attrvalue>
+ <attrdesc>:: <base64-encoded-value>
+ <attrdesc>:< <URL>
...
.ft
.fi
.LP
-where <id> is the optional entry ID (a positive decimal number).
-Normally, you would not supply the <id>, allowing the database creation
-tools to do that for you. The
-.BR ldbmcat (8)
-program, however, produces an LDIF format that includes <id> so that
-new indexes created will be consistent with the existing database. A
-line may be continued by starting the next line with a single space or
-tab character, e.g.,
+The value may be specified as UTF-8 text or as base64 encoded data,
+or a URI may be provided to the location of the attribute value.
+.LP
+A line may be continued by starting the next line with a single space
+or tab, e.g.,
.LP
.nf
.ft tt
- dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen, o=University of Michi
- gan, c=US
+ dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=exam
+ ple,dc=com
.ft
.fi
.LP
+Lines beginning with a sharp sign ('#') are ignored.
+.LP
Multiple attribute values are specified on separate lines, e.g.,
.LP
.nf
.ft
.fi
.LP
-If an <attrvalue> contains a non-printing character, or begins with a
-space or a colon ':', the <attrtype> is followed by a double colon and
-the value is encoded in base 64 notation. e.g., the value " begins with
-a space" would be encoded like this:
+If an value contains a non-printing character, or begins
+with a space or a colon ':', the <attrtype> is followed by a
+double colon and the value is encoded in base 64 notation. e.g.,
+the value " begins with a space" would be encoded like this:
.LP
.nf
.ft tt
.ft
.fi
.LP
+If the attribute value is located in a file, the <attrtype> is
+followed by a ':<' and a file: URI. e.g., the value contained
+in the file /tmp/value would be listed like this:
+.LP
+.nf
+.ft tt
+ cn:< file:///tmp/value
+.ft
+.fi
+Other URI schemes (ftp,http) may be supported as well.
+.LP
Multiple entries within the same LDIF file are separated by blank
lines.
-.SH EXAMPLE
+.SH ENTRY RECORD EXAMPLE
Here is an example of an LDIF file containing three entries.
.LP
.nf
.ft tt
- dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen, o=University of Michi
- gan, c=US
+ dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Barbara J Jensen
cn: Babs Jensen
objectclass: person
+ description:< file:///tmp/babs
sn: Jensen
- dn: cn=Bjorn J Jensen, o=University of Michi
- gan, c=US
+ dn: cn=Bjorn J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Bjorn J Jensen
cn: Bjorn Jensen
objectclass: person
sn: Jensen
- dn: cn=Jennifer J Jensen, o=University of Michi
- gan, c=US
+ dn: cn=Jennifer J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Jennifer J Jensen
cn: Jennifer Jensen
objectclass: person
.ft
.fi
.LP
-Notice that the jpegPhoto in Jennifer Jensen's entry is encoded using
-base 64.
+Note that the description in Barbara Jensen's entry is
+read from file:///tmp/babs and the jpegPhoto in Jennifer
+Jensen's entry is encoded using base 64.
+.SH CHANGE RECORDS
+LDIF change records are used to represent directory change requests.
+Each change record starts with line indicating the distinguished
+name of the entry being changed:
+.LP
+.nf
+ dn: <distinguishedname>
+.fi
+.LP
+.nf
+ changetype: <[modify|add|delete|modrdn]>
+.fi
+.LP
+Finally, the change information itself is given, the format of which
+depends on what kind of change was specified above. For a \fIchangetype\fP
+of \fImodify\fP, the format is one or more of the following:
+.LP
+.nf
+ add: <attributetype>
+ <attrdesc>: <value1>
+ <attrdesc>: <value2>
+ ...
+ \-
+.fi
+.LP
+Or, for a replace modification:
+.LP
+.nf
+ replace: <attributetype>
+ <attrdesc>: <value1>
+ <attrdesc>: <value2>
+ ...
+ \-
+.fi
+.LP
+If no \fIattributetype\fP lines are given to replace,
+the entire attribute is to be deleted (if present).
+.LP
+Or, for a delete modification:
+.LP
+.nf
+ delete: <attributetype>
+ <attrdesc>: <value1>
+ <attrdesc>: <value2>
+ ...
+ \-
+.fi
+.LP
+If no \fIattributetype\fP lines are given to delete,
+the entire attribute is to be deleted.
+.LP
+For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fIadd\fP, the format is:
+.LP
+.nf
+ <attrdesc1>: <value1>
+ <attrdesc1>: <value2>
+ ...
+ <attrdescN>: <value1>
+ <attrdescN>: <value2>
+.fi
+.LP
+For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fImodrdn\fP or \fImoddn\fP,
+the format is:
+.LP
+.nf
+ newrdn: <newrdn>
+ deleteoldrdn: 0 | 1
+ newsuperior: <DN>
+.fi
+.LP
+where a value of 1 for deleteoldrdn means to delete the values
+forming the old rdn from the entry, and a value of 0 means to
+leave the values as non-distinguished attributes in the entry.
+The newsuperior line is optional and, if present, specifies the
+new superior to move the entry to.
+.LP
+For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fIdelete\fP, no additional information
+is needed in the record.
+.LP
+Note that attribute values may be presented using base64 or in
+files as described for entry records. Lines in change records
+may be continued in the manner described for entry records as
+well.
+.SH CHANGE RECORD EXAMPLE
+The following sample LDIF file contains a change record
+of each type of change.
+.LP
+.nf
+ dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
+ changetype: add
+ objectclass: person
+ objectclass: extensibleObject
+ cn: babs
+ cn: babs jensen
+ sn: jensen
+
+ dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
+ changetype: modify
+ add: givenName
+ givenName: Barbara
+ givenName: babs
+ \-
+ replace: description
+ description: the fabulous babs
+ \-
+ delete: sn
+ sn: jensen
+ \-
+
+ dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com
+ changetype: modrdn
+ newrdn: cn=Barbara J Jensen
+ deleteoldrdn: 0
+ newsuperior: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
+
+ dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
+ changetype: delete
+.fi
+
+.SH INCLUDE STATEMENT
+The LDIF parser has been extended to support an
+.B include
+statement for referencing other LDIF files. The
+.B include
+statement must be separated from other records by a blank line.
+The referenced file is specified using a file: URI and all of its
+contents are incorporated as if they were part of the original
+LDIF file. As above, other URI schemes may be supported. For example:
+.LP
+.nf
+ dn: dc=example,dc=com
+ objectclass: domain
+ dc: example
+
+ include: file:///tmp/example.com.ldif
+
+ dn: dc=example,dc=org
+ objectclass: domain
+ dc: example
+.fi
+This feature is not part of the LDIF specification in RFC 2849 but
+is expected to appear in a future revision of this spec. It is supported
+by the
+.BR ldapadd (1),
+.BR ldapmodify (1),
+and
+.BR slapadd (8)
+commands.
+
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR ldap (3),
-.BR slapd (8),
-.BR ldif2ldbm (8),
-.BR ldbmcat (8)
+.BR ldapsearch (1),
+.BR ldapadd (1),
+.BR ldapmodify (1),
+.BR slapadd (8),
+.BR slapcat (8),
+.BR slapd\-ldif (5),
+.BR slapd.replog (5).
.LP
-"The SLAPD and SLURPD Administrator's Guide"
+"LDAP Data Interchange Format," Good, G., RFC 2849.
.SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
-.B OpenLDAP
-is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project (http://www.openldap.org/).
-.B OpenLDAP
-is derived from University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
+.so ../Project
projects / openldap / blobdiff