address info / ldap question

[Roger Oberholtzer]

The Netscape AddressBook will output an LDIF file, which is the interchange
format for LDAP. You need not type in these files by hand. I have not found
another tool for making these files.


I was playing with how well they really work in practice. The problem as I
see it is that LDIF is a bit like XML in the sense that you can put lots of
information in the file that can be properly parsed (syntax is understood),
but the meanings of the fields seems to be somewhat non-standard.

Case in point:

I entered information in Netscape, including a 'given name'. I saved it to
an LDIF file. Well, K mail claims to be able to read LDIF files, so I tried
that. While many fields did show up in K Mail's address book, the 'given
name' did not. I suspect that Kmail and Netscape use a different key for
this basic essential parameter. I really do not want to enter all this info
only to find that the keys are wrong. OK, I can do a global replace in an
editor, but should this be the case? Also, kmail is not the openldap server.
Maybe it will like the file created by Netscape better. Not that far yet.

On Thu, 13 Mar 2003 17:58:03 -0500
Matthew Carpenter <matt at eisgr.com> wrote:

> I had recently made the commitment for the same.
> I'm simply searching for the best (simple and compatible) way to maintain
> these.
> I DEFINITELY don't want to be typing in everything from scratch (including
> all the LDAP fields) so I'm looking at a few web front-ends for LDAP.
> 
> In my opinion, OpenLDAP is the way to go.  I'm only hoping to find
> something that makes it as easy as Novell makes NDS.
> 
> 
> On Thu, 13 Mar 2003 22:57:58 +0100
> Roger Oberholtzer <roger.oberholtzer at surbrunn.net> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > I am the happy maintainer of an address list for the parents in my
> > daughter's class. For three or four years this has been a task passed on
> > and on, with each making a new list, and the lists being all different
> > and in various stated of correctness. We all, after all, have day jobs.
> > We will also be 'together' for three more years.
> > 
> > I thought, why not get it in one place that we can all access? So, I
> > have been thinking of OpenLDAP.
> > 
> > One guiding factor is that everyone uses a different e-mail program.
> > There are at least 6 on four different platforms. Everyone is re-typing
> > and re-typing. We are looking at OpenLook/Express, Eudora, Netscape,
> > Mozilla, Kmail, Sylpheed, run on Windows, Mac (OS-9 and X), and Linux.
> > 
> > OpenLDAP seemed a better way to enter the info once and use it
> > everywhere. Or, is it everywhere?
> > 
> > Any opinions about this? Better ideas? Suggestions for tools? 
> > 
> > -- 
> > +????????????????????????????+???????????????????????????????+
> > ? Roger Oberholtzer          ?   E-mail: roger at opq.se        ?
> > ? OPQ Systems AB             ?      WWW: http://www.opq.se/  ?
> > ? Erik Dahlbergsgatan 41-43  ?    Phone: Int + 46 8   314223 ?
> > ? 115 34 Stockholm           ?   Mobile: Int + 46 733 621657 ?
> > ? Sweden                     ?      Fax: Int + 46 8   302602 ?
> > +????????????????????????????+???????????????????????????????+
> > 
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-- 
+????????????????????????????+???????????????????????????????+
? Roger Oberholtzer          ?   E-mail: roger at opq.se        ?
? OPQ Systems AB             ?      WWW: http://www.opq.se/  ?
? Erik Dahlbergsgatan 41-43  ?    Phone: Int + 46 8   314223 ?
? 115 34 Stockholm           ?   Mobile: Int + 46 733 621657 ?
? Sweden                     ?      Fax: Int + 46 8   302602 ?
+????????????????????????????+???????????????????????????????+