****Re: openldap + kmail

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2008-04-30 at 14:53 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 22:19 -0700, Craig White wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 23:49 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 20:45 -0700, Craig White wrote:
> > > > > If there had been a single example given in this case
> > > > > it would have been obvious what the program was looking for.
> > > > > One example is worth a thousand words.
> > > > ----
> > > > the issue with kaddressbook is the same issue with all ldap
> > > > clients...once you understand how ldap works, setting up a client like
> > > > kaddressbook is no big deal. Basically, everything is a client to LDAP
> > > > whether it's postfix/sendmail/cyrus/kaddressbook/evolution/etc. There
> > > > really is no functional difference because they all use LDAP protocol
> > > > to
> > > > access and get what they need.
> > > > 
> > > > What you are calling a lack of documentation suggests that you expect
> > > > all the various LDAP client programs to tell you how LDAP works.
> > > 
> > > It's not unreasonable to ask for an example. The average user has zero
> > > interest in finding out how LDAP works, and a lot of interest in getting
> > > his contacts working.
> > ----
> > Yes - it actually is unreasonable since there is no standard way of
> > setting up LDAP address books. 
> > 
> > Since we seem to keep having this discussion...let me restate so we are
> > clear.
> > 
> > There simply is no standard for LDAP address books.
> > 
> > There simply is no standard way to set anything up in LDAP...it's an
> > erector set.
> 
> I understand that perfectly well. However the question was not "how do I
> set up a general-purpose address book" but "how do I set up an
> address-book that Kmail will accept" and my suggestion of an example was
> also specific to Kmail. Clearly the OP solved the problem by setting up
> his address book in a certain way. Why can't what way be documented as
> an example in the Kmail documentation (*not* the LDAP documentation)?
----
What is the difference between a 'general-purpose address book' and a
'specific-purpose Kmail address book' that uses an LDAP backend?

I would submit that there is no difference but that they are one and the
same. 

The whole point is that an LDAP client is an LDAP client and it makes no
difference whether you use Kaddressbook, evolution or the ldapsearch
command line interface to access your LDAP server.

Still, you wouldn't get it to work without going into the notion of LDAP
ACL's and LDAP authentication and that is way beyond the scope of KDE's
address book. Their documentation starts with the premise that you have
a working LDAP DSA and know how to access it.

I don't recall any mail client program telling you how to set up your
POP3/IMAP/SMTP servers but hey, as I said, if you have a better idea for
documentation, by all means, write it up.

Craig