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LDAP(3)                                                                                              LDAP(3)



NAME
       ldap - OpenLDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol API

LIBRARY
       OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <ldap.h>

DESCRIPTION
       The  Lightweight  Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (RFC 4510) provides access to X.500 directory ser-vices. services.
       vices.  These services may be stand-alone or part of a distributed directory  service.   This  client
       API  supports  LDAP  over TCP (RFC 4511), LDAP over TLS/SSL, and LDAP over IPC (UNIX domain sockets).
       This API supports SASL (RFC 4513) and Start TLS (RFC 4513) as well as a  number  of  protocol  exten-sions. extensions.
       sions.  This API is loosely based upon IETF/LDAPEXT C LDAP API draft specification, a (orphaned) work
       in progress.

       The OpenLDAP Software package includes a stand-alone server in slapd(8), various LDAP clients, and an
       LDAP  client library used to provide programmatic access to the LDAP protocol. This man page gives an
       overview of the LDAP library routines.

       Both synchronous and asynchronous APIs are provided.  Also included are various routines to parse the
       results returned from these routines.  These routines are found in the -lldap library.

       The  basic  interaction  is as follows.  A session handle is created using ldap_initialize(3) and set
       the protocol version to 3 by calling ldap_set_option(3).  The underlying session is established first
       operation is issued.  This would generally be a Start TLS or Bind operation, or a Search operation to
       read attributes of the Root DSE.  A Start TLS operation is performed by calling  ldap_start_tls_s(3).
       A  LDAP  bind  operation  is  performed by calling ldap_sasl_bind(3) or one of its friends.  A Search
       operation is performed by calling ldap_search_ext_s(3) or one of its friends.

       Subsequently, additional operations are performed by calling one of the synchronous  or  asynchronous
       routines  (e.g.,  ldap_compare_ext_s(3)  or ldap_compare_ext(3) followed by ldap_result(3)).  Results
       returned from  these  routines  are  interpreted  by  calling  the  LDAP  parsing  routines  such  as
       ldap_parse_result(3).   The  LDAP  association  and  underlying  connection  is terminated by calling
       ldap_unbind_ext(3).  Errors can be interpreted by calling ldap_err2string(3).

LDAP versions
       This library supports version 3 of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAPv3) as  defined  in
       RFC  4510.   It  also  supports a variant of version 2 of LDAP as defined by U-Mich LDAP and, to some
       degree, RFC 1777.  Version 2 (all variants) are  considered  obsolete.   Version  3  should  be  used
       instead.

       For  backwards compatibility reasons, the library defaults to version 2.  Hence, all new applications
       (and all actively maintained applications) should use ldap_set_option(3) to select  version  3.   The
       library manual pages assume version 3 has been selected.

INPUT and OUTPUT PARAMETERS
       All character string input/output is expected to be/is UTF-8 encoded Unicode (version 3.2).

       Distinguished  names  (DN)  (and relative distinguished names (RDN) to be passed to the LDAP routines
       should conform to RFC 4514 UTF-8 string representation.

       Search filters to be passed to the search routines are to be constructed by hand and  should  conform
       to RFC 4515 UTF-8 string representation.

       LDAP  URLs to be passed to routines are expected to conform to RFC 4516 format.  The ldap_url(3) rou-tines routines
       tines can be used to work with LDAP URLs.

       LDAP controls to be passed to routines can be manipulated using the ldap_controls(3) routines.

DISPLAYING RESULTS
       Results obtained from the search routines can be output by hand, by calling  ldap_first_entry(3)  and
       ldap_next_entry(3)    to   step   through   the   entries   returned,   ldap_first_attribute(3)   and
       ldap_next_attribute(3) to step through an entry's attributes, and ldap_get_values(3)  to  retrieve  a
       given attribute's values.  Attribute values may or may not be displayable.

UTILITY ROUTINES
       Also  provided  are various utility routines.  The ldap_sort(3) routines are used to sort the entries
       and values returned via the ldap search routines.

DEPRECATED INTERFACES
       A number of interfaces are now considered deprecated.  For instance,  ldap_add(3)  is  deprecated  in
       favor  of  ldap_add_ext(3).   Deprecated  interfaces  generally  remain  in  the  library.  The macro
       LDAP_DEPRECATED can be defined to a non-zero value (e.g., -DLDAP_DEPRECATED=1) when compiling program
       designed  to  use  deprecated interfaces.  It is recommended that developers writing new programs, or
       updating old programs, avoid use of deprecated interfaces.  Over time, it is expected that documenta-tion documentation
       tion (and, eventually, support) for deprecated interfaces to be eliminated.

BER LIBRARY
       Also  included in the distribution is a set of lightweight Basic Encoding Rules routines.  These rou-tines routines
       tines are used by the LDAP library routines to encode and decode LDAP  protocol  elements  using  the
       (slightly  simplified)  Basic Encoding Rules defined by LDAP.  They are not normally used directly by
       an LDAP application program except in the handling of controls and extended operations.  The routines
       provide  a  printf  and scanf-like interface, as well as lower-level access.  These routines are dis-cussed discussed
       cussed in lber-decode(3), lber-encode(3), lber-memory(3), and lber-types(3).

INDEX
       ldap_initialize(3)  initialize the LDAP library without opening a connection to a server

       ldap_result(3)      wait for the result from an asynchronous operation

       ldap_abandon_ext(3) abandon (abort) an asynchronous operation

       ldap_add_ext(3)     asynchronously add an entry

       ldap_add_ext_s(3)   synchronously add an entry

       ldap_sasl_bind(3)   asynchronously bind to the directory

       ldap_sasl_bind_s(3) synchronously bind to the directory

       ldap_unbind_ext(3)  synchronously unbind from the LDAP server and close the connection

       ldap_unbind(3) and ldap_unbind_s(3) are
                           equivalent to ldap_unbind_ext(3)

       ldap_memfree(3)     dispose of memory allocated by LDAP routines.

       ldap_compare_ext(3) asynchronously compare to a directory entry

       ldap_compare_ext_s(3)
                           synchronously compare to a directory entry

       ldap_delete_ext(3)  asynchronously delete an entry

       ldap_delete_ext_s(3)
                           synchronously delete an entry

       ld_errno(3)         LDAP error indication

       ldap_errlist(3)     list of LDAP errors and their meanings

       ldap_err2string(3)  convert LDAP error indication to a string

       ldap_extended_operation(3)
                           asynchronously perform an arbitrary extended operation

       ldap_extended_operation_s(3)
                           synchronously perform an arbitrary extended operation

       ldap_first_attribute(3)
                           return first attribute name in an entry

       ldap_next_attribute(3)
                           return next attribute name in an entry

       ldap_first_entry(3) return first entry in a chain of search results

       ldap_next_entry(3)  return next entry in a chain of search results

       ldap_count_entries(3)
                           return number of entries in a search result

       ldap_get_dn(3)      extract the DN from an entry

       ldap_get_values_len(3)
                           return an attribute's values with lengths

       ldap_value_free_len(3)
                           free memory allocated by ldap_get_values_len(3)

       ldap_count_values_len(3)
                           return number of values

       ldap_modify_ext(3)  asynchronously modify an entry

       ldap_modify_ext_s(3)
                           synchronously modify an entry

       ldap_mods_free(3)   free array of pointers to mod structures used by ldap_modify_ext(3)

       ldap_rename(3)      asynchronously rename an entry

       ldap_rename_s(3)    synchronously rename an entry

       ldap_msgfree(3)     free results allocated by ldap_result(3)

       ldap_msgtype(3)     return the message type of a message from ldap_result(3)

       ldap_msgid(3)       return the message id of a message from ldap_result(3)

       ldap_search_ext(3)  asynchronously search the directory

       ldap_search_ext_s(3)
                           synchronously search the directory

       ldap_is_ldap_url(3) check a URL string to see if it is an LDAP URL

       ldap_url_parse(3)   break up an LDAP URL string into its components

       ldap_sort_entries(3)
                           sort a list of search results

       ldap_sort_values(3) sort a list of attribute values

       ldap_sort_strcasecmp(3)
                           case insensitive string comparison

SEE ALSO
       ldap.conf(5), slapd(8), draft-ietf-ldapext-ldap-c-api-xx.txt <http://www.ietf.org>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by  The  OpenLDAP  Project  <http://www.openldap.org/>.
       OpenLDAP Software is derived from University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.

       These  API  manual  pages are loosely based upon descriptions provided in the IETF/LDAPEXT C LDAP API
       Internet Draft, a (orphaned) work in progress.




OpenLDAP 2.4.11                                  2008/07/16                                          LDAP(3)

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