ldapmodify versus ldapadd

[Paul Gillingwater <paul@lanifex.com>]

Hi there,

I'm a little puzzled by the behaviour of ldapmodify versus ldapadd.  AFAIK, 
these are the same program, with the name determining which command line 
options are used.  For example, ldapadd invokes the -a flag, while ldapmodify 
invokes the -r flag.

What puzzles me is how can I do a REPLACE and ADD together.  For example, I 
have a set of data, some of which is new and some is old but changed.  The 
individual LDIF records are exported from non-LDAP systems, and therefore do 
not have individual add/modify/delete commands embedded.  I would be grateful 
for any advice on how I can ask OpenLDAP to add records which aren't there, and 
modify records which aren't.

If I try ldapadd with -r option, I get the error that the record already exists 
(which is true for some of them of course.)  Essentially, I expect that the -r 
and -a flags are mutually exclusive -- but the man page syntax doesn't reflect 
that.

What I'm afraid I have to do is to delete all the old records first, then add 
them all in again.  Surely there's a better way?

Thanks in advance for advice!


*********************************
        Paul Gillingwater
        Managing Director
 CSO Lanifex Unternehmensberatung 
 & Softwareentwicklung G.m.b.H.
      NEW BUSINESS CONCEPTS

E-mail:  paul@lanifex.com
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