super newbie problems

["Joshua D Simpson" <josh@urbanventures.ws>]

Hello,

I am experiencing some serious difficulties thanks to my ignorance of LDAP & in 
particular OpenLDAP's tools, and am hoping someone can help me over this 
initial hump.  Basically, I have openldap/slapd installed and running on my 
Linux machine, but I am utterly stuck by problems adding my first entries to an 
LDBM database.  My slapd.conf file is as follows --

# $OpenLDAP: pkg/ldap/servers/slapd/slapd.conf,v 1.8.8.7 2001/09/27 20:00:31 
kurt Exp $
#
# See slapd.conf(5) for details on configuration options.
# This file should NOT be world readable.
#
include		/mail/openldap/etc/openldap/schema/core.schema

# Define global ACLs to disable default read access.

# Do not enable referrals until AFTER you have a working directory
# service AND an understanding of referrals.
#referral	ldap://root.openldap.org

pidfile		/mail/openldap/var/slapd.pid
argsfile	/mail/openldap/var/slapd.args

# Load dynamic backend modules:
modulepath	/mail/openldap/libexec/openldap
# moduleload	back_ldap.la
moduleload	back_ldbm.la
# moduleload	back_passwd.la
# moduleload	back_shell.la

#
# Sample Access Control
#	Allow read access of root DSE
#	Allow self write access
#	Allow authenticated users read access
#	Allow anonymous users to authenticate
#
#access to dn="" by * read
#access to *
#	by self write
#	by users read
#	by anonymous auth
#
# if no access controls are present, the default is:
#	Allow read by all
#
# rootdn can always write!

#######################################################################
# ldbm database definitions
#######################################################################

database	ldbm
suffix		"dc=charlottedemocracy,dc=com"
#suffix		"o=My Organization Name,c=US"
rootdn		"cn=Manager,dc=charlottedemocracy,dc=com"
#rootdn		"cn=Manager,o=My Organization Name,c=US"
# Cleartext passwords, especially for the rootdn, should
# be avoid.  See slappasswd(8) and slapd.conf(5) for details.
# Use of strong authentication encouraged.
rootpw		secret
# The database directory MUST exist prior to running slapd AND 
# should only be accessible by the slapd/tools. Mode 700 recommended.
directory	/mail/openldap/var/openldap-ldbm
# Indices to maintain
index	objectClass	eq


In short, it's the default configuration with only the most basic info about my 
domains set up to define (as I vaguely understand it) the top most definition 
of my directory structure.  I can query slapd with the following -

ldapsearch -b '' -s base '(objectclass=*)' namingContexts

and it returns 

namingContexts=dc=charlottedemocracy,dc=com

however, when I attempt to add entries via ldapadd, loading an LDIF file such 
as the one below fails with an error message 

adding new entry dc=charlottedemocracy,dc=com
ldap_add: Invalid syntax
ldap_add: additional info: objectclass: value #0 invalid per syntax

content of entries1.ldif

dn: dc=charlottedemocracy,dc=com
objectclass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
o: simplygood ink
dc: charlottedemocracy


no leading or trailing <CR>s or blank spaces, btw.  

i've attempted quite a few variations on the above, and different objectClasses 
(person, for instance) with the same or similar results.  obviously i am not 
comprehending something basic about the way LDAP directories are created, 
defined and populated.  unfortunately none of the documentation lays out the 
fundamentals in a way that penetrates my thick skull.  


any suggestions would be much appreciated,

josh simpson