Re: (ITS#4823) Cannot use zero-length IA5 String

[kurt@OpenLDAP.org]

On Jan 29, 2007, at 1:11 AM, nisimura@gmail.com wrote:

> Full_Name: Kazu Nisumura
> Version: 2.3.33
> OS: Linux
> URL: ftp://ftp.openldap.org/incoming/
> Submission from: (NULL) (211.120.78.45)
>
>
> When I was trying to add an entry like this using ldapadd(1):
>
> dn: cn=name,dc=example,dc=com
> objectClass: inetOrgPerson
> cn: name
> sn: name
> mail:
>
> slapd returned invalidAttributeSyntax(21) error on the mail (IA5  
> String)
> attribute. According to RFC4517, zero-length IA5 String should be  
> allowed.

I note that while the directory service should allow such values,
directory applications (e.g., client programs) and users should only
provide values which make sense.  An empty string (or a string
consisting of just spaces) is not a valid email address and will
likely lead to ill behavior.   If the user represented by this
entry has no email address, the mail attribute should have no value
(as opposed to an empty value).  But I digress...