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LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) Gordon Good
INTERNET-DRAFT Netscape Communications
22 February 1999
The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) - Technical Specification
Filename: draft-good-ldap-ldif-03.txt
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance
with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as
Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other
documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-
Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as
"work in progress."
To view the list Internet-Draft Shadow Directories, see
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
This Internet Draft expires August 22nd, 1999.
Abstract
This document describes a file format suitable for describing
directory information or modifications made to directory information.
The file format, known as LDIF, for LDAP Data Interchange Format, is
typically used to import and export directory information between
LDAP-based directory servers, or to describe a set of changes which
are to be applied to a directory.
Background and Intended Usage
There are a number of situations where a common interchange format is
desirable. For example, one might wish to export a copy of the
contents of a directory server to a file, move that file to a
different machine, and import the contents into a second directory
server.
Additionally, by using a well-defined interchange format, development
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 1]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
of data import tools from legacy systems is facilitated. A fairly
simple set of tools written in awk or perl can, for example, convert
a database of personnel information into an LDIF file. Thie file can
then be imported into a directory server, regardless of the internal
database representation the target directory server uses.
The LDIF format was originally developed and used in the University
of Michigan LDAP implementation. The first use of LDIF was in
describing directory entries. Later, the format was expanded to
allow representation of changes to directory entries.
Relationship to the application/directory MIME content-type:
The application/directory MIME content-type [1] is a general
framework and format for conveying directory information, and is
independent of any particular directory service. The LDIF format is
a simpler format which is perhaps easier to create, and also may also
be used, as noted, to describe a set of changes to be applied to a
directory.
The key words "MUST", "MAY", and "SHOULD" used in this document are
to be interpreted as described in [7].
Definition of the LDAP Data Interchange Format
The LDIF format is used to convey directory information, or a
description of a set of changes made to directory entries. An LDIF
file consists of a series of records separated by line separators. A
record consists of a sequence of lines describing a directory entry,
or a sequence of lines describing a set of changes to a directory
entry. An LDIF file specifies a set of directory entries, or a set
of changes to be applied to directory entries, but not both.
There is a one-to-one correlation between LDAP operations which
modify the directory (add, delete, modify, and modrdn), and the types
of changerecords described below ("add", "delete", "modify", and
"modrdn" or "moddn"). This correspondence is intentional, and
permits a straightforward translation from LDIF changerecords to
protocol operations.
Formal Syntax Definition of LDIF
The following definition uses the augmented Backus-Naur Form
specified in RFC 822 [2].
ldif-file = ldif-content / ldif-changes
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INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
ldif-content = version-spec 1*SEP
ldif-attrval-record *(1*SEP ldif-attrval-record)
ldif-changes = version-spec 1*SEP
ldif-change-record *(1*SEP ldif-change-record)
ldif-attrval-record = dn-spec SEP 1*(attrval-spec SEP)
ldif-change-record = dn-spec SEP 1*(changerecord SEP)
version-spec = "version:" *SPACE version-number
version-number = 1*DIGIT ; version-number MUST be "1" for the
; LDIF format described in this document.
dn-spec = ("dn:" *SPACE dn) / ("dn::" *SPACE base64-dn)
dn = <a distinguished name, as defined in RFC 2253 [3]>
base64-dn = <a dn which has been base-64 encoded, as
defined in RFC 1521 [5]>
rdn = <a relative distinguished name, as defined in RFC
2253 [3]>
base64-rdn = <an rdn which has been base-64 encoded, as
defined in RFC 1521 [5]>
attrval-spec = attribute-description ((":") / (":" *SPACE value) /
("::" *SPACE base64-value) /
(":<" *SPACE url))
url = <a Uniform Resource Locator, as defined in [6]>
; (See Note 6, below)
attribute-description = <an attribute description, as defined in [4].
An attribute description MAY NOT contain a
colon ":">
value = 1*safe-initval *safe
; (See Note 9, below)
safe = <any value except CR or LF>
safe-initval = <any value except CR, LF, colon (":", ASCII 58
decimal), SPACE, and less-than ("<" , ASCII 60
decimal)>
base64-value = <base-64-encoded value, as defined in RFC 1521 [5]>
changerecord = change-add / change-delete / change-modify /
change-moddn
change-add = "changetype:" *SPACE "add" 1*(SEP attrval-spec)
change-delete = "changetype:" *SPACE "delete"
change-moddn = "changetype:" *SPACE ("modrdn" / "moddn") SEP
("newrdn:" *SPACE rdn /
"newrdn::" *SPACE base-64-rdn) SEP
"deleteoldrdn:" *SPACE ("0" / "1")
0,1*(SEP (("newsuperior:" *SPACE dn) /
("newsuperior::" *SPACE base-64-dn)))
change-modify = "changetype:" *SPACE "modify" 1*(SEP mod-spec)
mod-spec = mod-add-spec / mod-delete-spec / mod-replace-spec
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 3]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
mod-add-spec = "add:" *SPACE attribute-description
1*(SEP attrval-spec) SEP "-"
mod-delete-spec = "delete:" *SPACE attribute-description
*(SEP attrval-spec) SEP "-"
mod-replace-spec = "replace:" *SPACE attribute-description
*(SEP attrval-spec) SEP "-"
SPACE = <ASCII SP, space>
SEP = (CR LF / LF)
CR = <ASCII CR, carriage return>
LF = <ASCII LF, line feed>
DIGIT = <any ASCII decimal digit (60 - 71 decimal) >
Notes on LDIF Syntax
1) For the LDIF format described in this document, the version number
MUST be "1". If the version number is absent, implementations MAY
choose to interpret the contents as an older LDIF file format,
supported by the University of Michigan ldap-3.3 implementation [8].
2) Any line, including comment lines, in an LDIF file MAY be wrapped
by inserting a line separator (SEP) and a SPACE. Any line which
begins with a single space MUST be treated as a continuation of the
previous line. When joining folded lines, exactly one space character
at the beginning of each continued line must be discarded.
3) Any line which begins with a pound-sign ("#", ASCII 35) is a
comment line, and MUST be ignored when parsing an LDIF file.
4) Any dn or value which contains characters other than those defined
as "safe", or begins with a character other than those defined as
"safe-initval", above, MUST be base-64 encoded. Other values MAY be
base-64 encoded.
5) To represent a zero-length attribute value, use an attrval-spec of
"attribute-description:". For example, "seeAlso:" represents a
zero-length "seeAlso" attribute value.
6) When a URL is specified in an attrval-spec, the following
conventions apply:
a) Implementations SHOULD support the file:// URL format. The
contents of the referenced file are to be included verbatim
in the interpreted output of the LDIF file.
b) Implementations MAY support other URL formats. The semantics
associated with each supported URL will be documented in
an associated Applicability Statement.
7) While it is permissible for character values larger than 126 to be
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 4]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
contained in an attribute value, implementations SHOULD base-64
encode any value which contains such characters when generating LDIF.
However, implementations MAY leave the values unencoded. This
relaxation is designed to allow editing of LDIF files containing
UTF-8 data.
8) Attribute values contained in LDIF files represent directory data,
and therefore MUST be valid UTF-8 strings. Implementations which read
LDIF MAY interpret files in which the values are stored in some other
character set encoding, but implementations MUST NOT generate LDIF
content which does not contain valid UTF-8 data.
9) Values that end with SPACE SHOULD be base-64 encoded.
Examples of LDAP Data Interchange Format
Example 1: An simple LDAP file with two entries
version: 1
dn: cn=Barbara Jensen, ou=Product Development, dc=airius, dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
cn: Barbara Jensen
cn: Barbara J Jensen
cn: Babs Jensen
sn: Jensen
uid: bjensen
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1212
description: A big sailing fan.
dn: cn=Bjorn Jensen, ou=Accounting, dc=airius, dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
cn: Bjorn Jensen
sn: Jensen
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1212
Example 2: A file containing an entry with a folded attribute value
version: 1
dn:cn=Barbara Jensen, ou=Product Development, dc=airius, dc=com
objectclass:top
objectclass:person
objectclass:organizationalPerson
cn:Barbara Jensen
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 5]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
cn:Barbara J Jensen
cn:Babs Jensen
sn:Jensen
uid:bjensen
telephonenumber:+1 408 555 1212
description:Babs is a big sailing fan, and travels extensively in search of
perfect sailing conditions.
title:Product Manager, Rod and Reel Division
Example 3: A file containing a base-64-encoded value
version: 1
dn: cn=Gern Jensen, ou=Product Testing, dc=airius, dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
cn: Gern Jensen
cn: Gern O Jensen
sn: Jensen
uid: gernj
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1212
description:: V2hhdCBhIGNhcmVmdWwgcmVhZGVyIHlvdSBhcmUhICBUaGlzIHZhbHVlIGlzIGJ
hc2UtNjQtZW5jb2RlZCBiZWNhdXNlIGl0IGhhcyBhIGNvbnRyb2wgY2hhcmFjdGVyIGluIGl0ICh
hIENSKS4NICBCeSB0aGUgd2F5LCB5b3Ugc2hvdWxkIHJlYWxseSBnZXQgb3V0IG1vcmUu
Example 4: A file containing an entries with UTF-8-encoded attribute
values, including language tags. Comments indicate the contents
of UTF-8-encoded attributes and distinguished names.
version: 1
dn:: b3U95Za25qWt6YOoLG89QWlyaXVz
# dn:: ou=<JapaneseOU>,o=Airius
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou:: 5Za25qWt6YOo
# ou:: <JapaneseOU>
ou;lang-ja:: 5Za25qWt6YOo
# ou;lang-ja:: <JapaneseOU>
ou;lang-ja;phonetic:: 44GI44GE44GO44KH44GG44G2
# ou;lang-ja:: <JapaneseOU_in_phonetic_representation>
ou;lang-en: Sales
description: Japanese office
dn:: dWlkPXJvZ2FzYXdhcmEsb3U95Za25qWt6YOoLG89QWlyaXVz
# dn:: uid=<uid>,ou=<JapaneseOU>,o=Airius
userpassword: {SHA}O3HSv1MusyL4kTjP+HKI5uxuNoM=
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 6]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
objectclass: organizationalPerson
objectclass: inetOrgPerson
uid: rogasawara
mail: rogasawara@airius.co.jp
givenname;lang-ja:: 44Ot44OJ44OL44O8
# givenname;lang-ja:: <JapaneseGivenname>
sn;lang-ja:: 5bCP56yg5Y6f
# sn;lang-ja:: <JapaneseSn>
cn;lang-ja:: 5bCP56yg5Y6fIOODreODieODi+ODvA==
# cn;lang-ja:: <JapaneseCn>
title;lang-ja:: 5Za25qWt6YOoIOmDqOmVtw==
# title;lang-ja:: <JapaneseTitle>
preferredlanguage: ja
givenname:: 44Ot44OJ44OL44O8
# givenname:: <JapaneseGivenname>
sn:: 5bCP56yg5Y6f
# sn:: <JapaneseSn>
cn:: 5bCP56yg5Y6fIOODreODieODi+ODvA==
# cn:: <JapaneseCn>
title:: 5Za25qWt6YOoIOmDqOmVtw==
# title:: <JapaneseTitle>
givenname;lang-ja;phonetic:: 44KN44Gp44Gr44O8
# givenname;lang-ja;phonetic::
<JapaneseGivenname_in_phonetic_representation_kana>
sn;lang-ja;phonetic:: 44GK44GM44GV44KP44KJ
# sn;lang-ja;phonetic:: <JapaneseSn_in_phonetic_representation_kana>
cn;lang-ja;phonetic:: 44GK44GM44GV44KP44KJIOOCjeOBqeOBq+ODvA==
# cn;lang-ja;phonetic:: <JapaneseCn_in_phonetic_representation_kana>
title;lang-ja;phonetic:: 44GI44GE44GO44KH44GG44G2IOOBtuOBoeOCh+OBhg==
# title;lang-ja;phonetic:: <JapaneseTitle_in_phonetic_representation_kana>
givenname;lang-en: Rodney
sn;lang-en: Ogasawara
cn;lang-en: Rodney Ogasawara
title;lang-en: Sales, Director
Example 5: A file containing a reference to an external file
version: 1
dn: cn=Horatio Jensen, ou=Product Testing, dc=airius, dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
cn: Horatio Jensen
cn: Horatio N Jensen
sn: Jensen
uid: hjensen
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1212
jpegphoto:< file:///usr/local/directory/photos/hjensen.jpg
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 7]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
Example 6: A file containing a series of change records and comments
version: 1
# Add a new entry
dn: cn=Fiona Jensen, ou=Marketing, dc=airius, dc=com
changetype: add
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
cn: Fiona Jensen
sn: Jensen
uid: fiona
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1212
jpegphoto:< file:///usr/local/directory/photos/fiona.jpg
# Delete an existing entry
dn: cn=Robert Jensen, ou=Marketing, dc=airius, dc=com
changetype: delete
# Modify an entry's relative distinguished name
dn: cn=Paul Jensen, ou=Product Development, dc=airius, dc=com
changetype: modrdn
newrdn: cn=Paula Jensen
deleteoldrdn: 1
# Rename an entry and move all of its children to a new location in
# the directory tree (only implemented by LDAPv3 servers).
dn: ou=PD Accountants, ou=Product Development, dc=airius, dc=com
changetype: modrdn
newrdn: ou=Product Development Accountants
deleteoldrdn: 0
newsuperior: ou=Accounting, dc=airius, dc=com
# Modify an entry: add an additional value to the postaladdress attribute,
# completely delete the description attribute, replace the telephonenumber
# attribute with two values, and delete a specific value from the
# facsimiletelephonenumber attribute
dn: cn=Paula Jensen, ou=Product Development, dc=airius, dc=com
changetype: modify
add: postaladdress
postaladdress: 123 Anystreet $ Sunnyvale, CA $ 94086
-
delete: description
-
replace: telephonenumber
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 1234
telephonenumber: +1 408 555 5678
-
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 8]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
delete: facsimiletelephonenumber
facsimiletelephonenumber: +1 408 555 9876
-
Security Considerations
Given typical directory applications, an LDIF file is likely to
contain sensitive personal data. Appropriate measures should be
taken to protect the privacy of those persons whose data is contained
in an LDIF file.
Since ":<" directives can cause external content to be included when
processing an LDIF file, one should be cautious of accepting LDIF
files from external sources. A "trojan" LDIF file could name a file
with sensitive contents and cause it to be included in a directory
entry, which a hostile entity could read via LDAP.
LDIF does not provide any method for carrying authentication
information with an LDIF file. Users of LDIF files must take care to
verify the integrity of an LDIF file received from an external
source.
Appendix A: Differences from previous versions of this document
This section summarizes the differences between previous revisions of
this draft, as an aid to document reviewers. This section will be
deleted prior to publication as an RFC.
Differences between draft-ietf-asid-ldif-00.txt and draft-ietf-asid-
ldif-01.txt
1) The BNF has been modified to explicitly disallow ldif content and
change records in the same file. In other words, a given LDIF file
is either a series of directory entries, or a series of
modifications. An LDIF file MUST NOT contain both types of records.
2) External references are now URLs, instead of simple filenames.
3) The BNF has been modified to allow base-64-encoded distinguished
names.
4) Multiple separators are now permitted between records.
Differences between draft-ietf-asid-ldif-01.txt and draft-ietf-asid-
ldif-02.txt
1) The BNF has been modified such that a simple attribute name
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 9]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
("attrname") has been replaced with an "attribute-description" as
defined in the LDAPv3 protocol document [4]. This permits language
codes and other attribute options to be carried in an LDIF file.
2) A new option, "charset", may be used in attribute descriptions.
This facilitates multi-lingual character set conversion.
3) The definition of the "safe" and "safe-initval" productions has
been relaxed to allow non-ASCII characters with values greater than
126. This permits more natural expression of character sets such as
Latin-1 in LDIF files.
Differences between draft-ietf-asid-ldif-02.txt and draft-good-ldap-
ldif-00.txt
1) The "charset-option" and "charset-name" productions were removed
from the BNF, due to objections within the working group. UTF-8 is
the only character set which may be used in LDIF.
2) Examples were reworked to reflect the above change, and to include
an example of a non-western language represented in UTF-8.
Differences between draft-ietf-good-ldif-00.txt and draft-good-ldap-
ldif-01.txt
1) Added version identifiers to the examples - they were missing.
2) Clarified that LDIF file must use UTF-8.
Differences between draft-ietf-good-ldif-01.txt and draft-good-ldap-
ldif-02.txt
1) Added a recommendation that values ending in SPACE should be
base-64 encoded.
2) Clarified the procedure for joining folded lines.
3) Updated header to reflect new IETF I-D guidelines.
Differences between draft-ietf-good-ldif-02.txt and draft-good-ldap-
ldif-03.txt
1) Fixed reference from RFC 1779 to RFC 2253.
2) Version string is now required.
3) Comment lines may be folded (this is now explicitly mentioned in
note 2).
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 10]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
4) Moved this section (differences between draft versions) to an
appendix.
5) Updated examples to use "dc=airius, dc=com" instead of "o=Ace
Industry, c=US"
6) Cleaned up references section.
Acknowledgments
The LDAP Interchange Format was developed as part of the University
of Michigan LDAP reference implementation, and was developed by Tim
Howes, Mark Smith, and Gordon Good. It is based in part upon work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NCR-
9416667.
References
[1] Howes, T., Smith, M., "A MIME Content-Type for Directory Infor-
mation", RFC 2425, September 1998,
<URL:http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2245.txt>
[2] Crocker, D.H., "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text
Messages", RFC 822, August 1982,
<URL:http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc822.txt>
[3] Wahl, M., Kille, S., Howes, T., "A String Representation of Dis-
tinguished Names", RFC 2253,
<URL:http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2253.txt>
[4] Wahl, M., Howes, T., Kille, S., "Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, July, 1997,
<URL:ftp://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt>
[5] Borenstein, N., Freed, N., "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
the Format of Internet Message Bodies", section 5.2, "Base64
Content-Transfer-Encoding", RFC 1521, December 1993,
<URL:http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1521.txt>
[6] T. Berners-Lee, L. Masinter, M. McCahill, "Uniform Resource
Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994,
<URL:http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1738.txt>
[7] S. Bradner, "Key Words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 11]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP Data Interchange Format 22 February 1999
Levels", Harvard University, RFC 2119, March 1997,
<URL:http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2119.txt>
[8] The SLAPD and SLURPD Administrators Guide. University of Michi-
gan, April 1996. <URL:
http://www.umich.edu/~dirsvcs/ldap/doc/guides/slapd/toc.html>
Author's Address
Gordon Good
Netscape Communications Corp.
501 E. Middlefield Rd.
Mailstop MV068
Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
Phone: +1 650 937-3825
EMail: ggood@netscape.com
This Internet Draft expires August 22nd, 1999.
Good February 22, 1999 [Page 12]
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