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LDIF format specification (for directory entries)

This file only lists the specifcation of an LDIF file which specifies a set of directory entries.
The LDIF file format is specifed in RFC 2849.

The following definition uses the augmented Backus-Naur Form specified in RFC 2234.

Syntax subset needed py parser in ldif-git-backup

# version spec

ldif-file                = ldif-content
ldif-content             = version-spec 1*(1*SEP ldif-attrval-record)
version-spec             = "version:" FILL version-number
version-number           = "1"

# entry spec

ldif-attrval-record      = dn-spec SEP 1*attrval-spec
dn-spec                  = "dn:" VALUE
attrval-spec             = attrname value-spec SEP
value-spec               = ":" VALUE

Tthis leads to:

version-spec 1*(1*SEP ("dn:" VALUE) SEP 1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)))

To support LDIFv1 without the version-spec, this leads to:

0*1(version-spec 1*SEP)
"dn:" VALUE SEP 1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)
*(1*SEP ("dn:" VALUE) SEP 1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)))

As we do not need dn-spec, the dn line can be interpreted as attrval-spec and the simplified result leads to:

0*1(version-spec 1*SEP)
1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)
*(1*SEP 1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)))

The entries will be parsed as follows:

entries = entry *(1*SEP entry)
entry   = 1*(attrname ":" VALUE SEP)

Formal Syntax Definition (subset to parse ldif-attrval-records)

ldif-file                = ldif-content / ldif-changes

ldif-content             = version-spec 1*(1*SEP ldif-attrval-record)

ldif-attrval-record      = dn-spec SEP 1*attrval-spec

version-spec             = "version:" FILL version-number

version-number           = 1*DIGIT
                           ; version-number MUST be "1" for the
                           ; LDIF format described in this document.

dn-spec                  = "dn:" (FILL distinguishedName /
                                  ":" FILL base64-distinguishedName)

attrval-spec             = AttributeDescription value-spec SEP

value-spec               = ":" (    FILL 0*1(SAFE-STRING) /
                                ":" FILL (BASE64-STRING) /
                                "<" FILL url)
                           ; See notes 7 and 8, below

url                      = <a Uniform Resource Locator,
                            as defined in [6]>
                                   ; (See Note 6, below)

AttributeDescription     = AttributeType [";" options]
                           ; Definition taken from [4]

AttributeType            = ldap-oid / (ALPHA *(attr-type-chars))

options                  = option / (option ";" options)

option                   = 1*opt-char

attr-type-chars          = ALPHA / DIGIT / "-"

opt-char                 = attr-type-chars

SPACE                    = %x20
                           ; ASCII SP, space

FILL                     = *SPACE

SEP                      = (CR LF / LF)

CR                       = %x0D
                           ; ASCII CR, carriage return

LF                       = %x0A
                           ; ASCII LF, line feed

ALPHA                    = %x41-5A / %x61-7A
                           ; A-Z / a-z

DIGIT                    = %x30-39
                           ; 0-9

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.

  2. Any non-empty line, including comment lines, in an LDIF file MAY be folded by inserting a line separator (SEP) and a SPACE. Folding MUST NOT occur before the first character of the line. In other words, folding a line into two lines, the first of which is empty, is not permitted. Any line that begins with a single space MUST be treated as a continuation of the previous (non-empty) line. When joining folded lines, exactly one space character at the beginning of each continued line must be discarded. Implementations SHOULD NOT fold lines in the middle of a multi-byte UTF-8 character.

  3. Any line that begins with a pound-sign (#, ASCII 35) is a comment line, and MUST be ignored when parsing an LDIF file.