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Re: representation of time in LDAP
Norbert Klasen wrote:
>
> Hi Mark,
> > Does anyone have any suggestions on how to represent time in LDAP. I notice
> > that OpenLDAP 1.2.x returns the following for modifyTimeStamp:
> >
> > modifyTimeStamp=20000831180559Z
> >
> > Is this a standard time format? Is this the preferred way to represent time
> > in LDAP?
>
> rfc2252 defines two attribute syntaxes for times: UTC Time (historical)
> and
> Generalized Time, which SHOULD be used:
>
> 6.14. Generalized Time
>
> ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.24 DESC 'Generalized Time' )
>
> Values in this syntax are encoded as printable strings, represented
> as specified in X.208. Note that the time zone must be specified.
> It is strongly recommended that GMT time be used. For example,
>
> 199412161032Z
>
> [Note: X.208 Specification of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) has
> been superseded by ITU-T Recommendations X.680-X.683 (1997)]
>
> In OpenLDAP 2.0 TimeStamp attributes have a Generalized Time syntax.
> Netscape Directory Server however just uses Case Ignore String.
Netscape Directory Server uses the same format as Generalized Time, and the syntax (i.e. how values are compared when sorting or selecting for a query response) is the same as if it was using an explicit Generalized Time syntax. Case-insensitive comparisons of Generalized Time values work as expected, if GMT is used as recommended.
Rob
>
> Representations of date and time have been standardized in ISO 8601.
> (see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html)
> draft-royer-vcard-ldap-00.txt defines a mapping between LDAP and vCard.
> It includes vCardDate and vCardDateTime attribute syntaxes.
>
> --
> Norbert Klasen
> DFN Directory Services tel: +49 7071 29 70335
> ZDV, Universität Tübingen fax: +49 7071 29 5912
> D-72074 Tübingen norbert.klasen@zdv.uni-tuebingen.de
> Germany http://www.directory.dfn.de