Re: (ITS#5845) Distribution List support for OpenLDAP schema

[andrew.findlay@skills-1st.co.uk]

On Wed, Dec 03, 2008 at 05:02:52AM +0000, bejnet@yahoo.com wrote:

> I want to create distribution list in OpenLDAP. Meaning - If I have a group
> called admins@ldap.com and there are two members - bejoy@ldap.com and
> bejnet@ldap.com; and mail is sent to admins@ldap.com = both these members must
> get the email. Exchange has this feature. This mail id should have a display
> name feature as well - that would show up on search of address books.
> 
> At present the work around is using qmail's schema for this distribution list. I
> believe inetOrgPerson schema could have a group version too - which would need a
> compulsory attribute called members which must have atleast one member mentioned
> under it.

I think you have just described groupOfNames. I do not like groupOfNames
*because* it makes the member attribute mandatory, which makes management
complicated.

Anyway, I cannot see this as a defect in OpenLDAP. LDAP schema is
extensible: if you want something that is not in the standard set
you can add it locally. You say that you have used qmail's schema:
is there anything wrong with that?

Most LDAP-capable mail systems can be persuaded to use groups as
mailing lists, but that is a mail system issue not an OpenLDAP one.
It could be argued that simple groups are not rich enough to use
for list expansion (no way to keep track of per-member list
preferences etc) but if we are going to talk about defining an
improved group this is the wrong place to do it: maybe IETF's
ldapext list would be better.

Andrew
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|                 From Andrew Findlay, Skills 1st Ltd                 |
| Consultant in large-scale systems, networks, and directory services |
|     http://www.skills-1st.co.uk/                +44 1628 782565     |
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