Netscape NETSCAPE DIRECTORY SERVER 6.02, Administrator'S Manual

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LDIF File Format
492 Netscape Directory Server Administrator’s Guide • May 2002
If you use this standard notation, you do not need to specify the
ldapmodify -b
parameter. However, you must add the following line to the beginning of your
LDIF file, or your LDIF update statements:
version:1
For example, you could use the following
ldapmodify
command:
prompt% ldapmodify -D
userDN
-w
user_passwd
>version: 1
>dn: cn=Barney Fife,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
add: userCertificate
userCertificate;binary:< file: BarneysCert
• Using base 64 encoding. You identify base 64 encoded data by using the
::
symbol. For example:
jpegPhoto::
encoded_data
In addition to binary data, other values that must be base 64-encoded include:
• Any value that begins with a semicolon (;) or a space
• Any value that contains non-ASCII data, including new lines
Use the
ldif
command-line utility with the
-b
parameter to convert binary data to
LDIF format:
ldif -b
attribute_name
where attribute_name is the name of the attribute to which you are supplying the
binary data. The binary data is read from standard input and the results are written
to standard output. Thus, you should use redirection operators to select input and
output files.
The
ldif
command-line utility will take any input and format it with the correct
line continuation and appropriate attribute information. The
ldif
utility also
assesses whether the input requires base 64 encoding. For example:
ldif -b jpegPhoto < mark.jpg > out.ldif
This example takes a binary file containing a JPEG-formatted image and converts it
into LDIF format for the attribute named
jpegPhoto
. The output is saved to
out.ldif
.
The
-b
option specifies that the
ldif
utility should interpret the entire input as a
single binary value. If
-b
is not present, each line is considered to be a separate
input value.