NAME
ldap_init, ldap_initialize, ldap_open - Initialize the LDAP library and
open a connection to an LDAP server
LIBRARY
OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)
SYNOPSIS
#include <ldap.h>
LDAP *ldap_open(host, port)
char *host;
int port;
LDAP *ldap_init(host, port)
char *host;
int port;
int ldap_initialize(ldp, uri)
LDAP **ldp;
char *uri;
#include <ldap_pvt.h>
int ldap_init_fd(fd, proto, uri, ldp)
ber_socket_t fd;
int proto;
char *uri;
LDAP **ldp;
DESCRIPTION
ldap_open() opens a connection to an LDAP server and allocates an LDAP
structure which is used to identify the connection and to maintain per-
connection information. ldap_init() allocates an LDAP structure but
does not open an initial connection. ldap_initialize() allocates an
LDAP structure but does not open an initial connection. ldap_init_fd()
allocates an LDAP structure using an existing connection on the
provided socket. One of these routines must be called before any
operations are attempted.
ldap_open() takes host, the hostname on which the LDAP server is
running, and port, the port number to which to connect. If the default
IANA-assigned port of 389 is desired, LDAP_PORT should be specified for
port. The host parameter may contain a blank-separated list of hosts
to try to connect to, and each host may optionally by of the form
host:port. If present, the :port overrides the port parameter to
ldap_open(). Upon successfully making a connection to an LDAP server,
ldap_open() returns a pointer to an opaque LDAP structure, which should
be passed to subsequent calls to ldap_bind(), ldap_search(), etc.
Certain fields in the LDAP structure can be set to indicate size limit,
time limit, and how aliases are handled during operations; read and
write access to those fields must occur by calling ldap_get_option(3)
and ldap_set_option(3) respectively, whenever possible.
ldap_init() acts just like ldap_open(), but does not open a connection
to the LDAP server. The actual connection open will occur when the
first operation is attempted.
ldap_initialize() acts like ldap_init(), but it returns an integer
indicating either success or the failure reason, and it allows to
specify details for the connection in the schema portion of the URI.
The uri parameter may be a comma- or whitespace-separated list of URIs
containing only the schema, the host, and the port fields. Apart from
ldap, other (non-standard) recognized values of the schema field are
ldaps (LDAP over TLS), ldapi (LDAP over IPC), and cldap (connectionless
LDAP). If other fields are present, the behavior is undefined.
At this time, ldap_open() and ldap_init() are deprecated in favor of
ldap_initialize(), essentially because the latter allows to specify a
schema in the URI and it explicitly returns an error code.
ldap_init_fd() allows an LDAP structure to be initialized using an
already-opened connection. The proto parameter should be one of
LDAP_PROTO_TCP, LDAP_PROTO_UDP, or LDAP_PROTO_IPC for a connection
using TCP, UDP, or IPC, respectively. The value LDAP_PROTO_EXT may also
be specified if user-supplied sockbuf handlers are going to be used.
Note that support for UDP is not implemented unless libldap was built
with LDAP_CONNECTIONLESS defined. The uri parameter may optionally be
provided for informational purposes.
Note: the first call into the LDAP library also initializes the global
options for the library. As such the first call should be single-
threaded or otherwise protected to insure that only one call is active.
It is recommended that ldap_get_option() or ldap_set_option() be used
in the program's main thread before any additional threads are created.
See ldap_get_option(3).
ERRORS
If an error occurs, ldap_open() and ldap_init() will return NULL and
errno should be set appropriately. ldap_initialize() and
ldap_init_fd() will directly return the LDAP code associated to the
error (or LDAP_SUCCESS in case of success); errno should be set as well
whenever appropriate.
SEE ALSO
ldap(3), ldap_bind(3), ldap_get_option(3), ldap_set_option(3), lber-
sockbuf(3), errno(3)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
<http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from
University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.