Re: Passwd Backend Syntax?

["Kurt D. Zeilenga" <Kurt@OpenLDAP.org>]

Batmensch@loomer.com wrote: 
> On  6 Jun, Kurt D. Zeilenga wrote:
> > At 10:09 AM 6/6/99 -0700, Hugh Caley wrote:
> >>Sorry to bother you with this ,  but I cannot find any documentation on
> >>this aspect of OpneLDAP.
> >
> > man slapd.conf
> >
> > In particular, see the suffix directive.
> >
> Fair enough, but the example seems to be for an ldbm backend with
> defined dn entries; what sort of thing would you specify as a suffix
> with an /etc/passwd file?

Each 'database' (backend) needs to have a DN suffix to be rooted
in.  The choice, just as with LDBM, is yours.

> There are no examples for that; does it
> treat the whole /etc/passwd line as one dn, or does it translate the
> various fields of each passwd line to something else?

It creates one entry for each password entry.

> How does the passwd backend determine what the objectclasses are, since
> they are not defined in the passwd file itself?

It's hardcoded to "person" in OpenLDAP 1.x.  -devel version 
to "person" + "uidObject".  It can be easily hacked to whatever
you desire.  Each entries DN is constructed based upon user's
login name and the specified suffix.  Attributes are constructed
from various password fields.

> Does it translate the various fields into objectclasses?

See above (or below).

> Are these documented somewhere?

Yes, the source code!

Kurt