Install openldap with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• ldapadd
• ldapcompare
• ldapdelete
• ldapexop
• ldapmodify
• ldapmodrdn
• ldappasswd
• ldapsearch
• ldapurl
• ldapvc
• ldapwhoami
• slapacl
• slapadd
• slapauth
• slapcat
• slapdn
• slapindex
• slapmodify
• slappasswd
• slapschema
• slaptest

Project history

OpenLDAP traces back to the University of Michigan LDAP codebase. The OpenLDAP Foundation says OpenLDAP Software is based on prior University of Michigan work, and Howard Chu's 2018 retrospective describes the project as starting from the last University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 release after the Michigan team moved on to Netscape Directory Server work.

Kurt Zeilenga founded the project in 1998, and OpenLDAP 1.0.0 was released on 26 August 1998 as essentially University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 plus accumulated community patches. The OpenLDAP Foundation, established in August 1998, coordinates the project and promotes open-source LDAP development.

The project grew through major server and protocol milestones: OpenLDAP 2.0 added LDAPv3, SASL, StartTLS, and improved server architecture; 2.2 brought LDAP Sync replication and overlays; 2.3 added cn=config and password-policy work; 2.4 added MirrorMode and MultiMaster replication; 2.5 added the LDAP Load Balancer Daemon and many overlay/library enhancements; 2.6 added file-based logging and load-balancer improvements.

Adoption history

OpenLDAP's adoption is tied to LDAP itself. RFC 4510 defines LDAPv3 as an Internet protocol for accessing distributed directory services that follow X.500 data and service models, and OpenLDAP became the widely packaged open-source implementation for Unix-like systems that needed those directory services.

Administrators use OpenLDAP for centralized identity and directory data, especially where applications, Unix accounts, mail systems, network devices, or legacy enterprise systems already speak LDAP. Its long life also comes from being infrastructure glue: many deployments do not expose it to end users, but authentication and address-book workflows depend on it.

How it is used

The admin guide frames OpenLDAP as software for building, configuring, and operating directory services, including the standalone LDAP daemon slapd. Operators define a directory information tree, schemas, access controls, indexes, replication topology, TLS/SASL settings, and backends, then manage entries with tools such as ldapsearch, ldapadd, ldapmodify, and ldapdelete.

Package users install openldap either as a server stack or as client libraries and command-line utilities needed by other software. The same package can support a running slapd service, local schema/testing work, or development against libldap.

Why package nerds care

OpenLDAP is a high-leverage systems package because it is both a daemon and a dependency surface. Packaging choices affect service files, configuration paths, schema directories, TLS defaults, dynamic modules, library ABI consumers, and whether downstream software links against the system LDAP client library.

It is also a lesson in boring infrastructure longevity. The package exists because directory protocols and identity integrations outlive trend cycles; the hard packaging work is preserving upgrade paths, defaults, and operational documentation across decades of deployments.

Timeline

• 1996: the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 codebase became the base from which OpenLDAP later started.
• August 1998: the OpenLDAP Foundation and Project were established, and OpenLDAP 1.0.0 was released on 26 August 1998.
• August 2000: OpenLDAP 2.0 added LDAPv3 support, SASL, StartTLS, thread pooling, and other server improvements.
• October 2007: OpenLDAP 2.4 added MirrorMode and MultiMaster replication, Proxy Sync replication, expanded monitoring, and new overlays.
• April 2021: OpenLDAP 2.5 added lloadd, transaction support, new replication protocols, multi-factor-authentication-related features, and many overlay/library changes.
• October 2021: OpenLDAP 2.6 added file-based logging and additional load-balancer strategies.

Related projects

• OpenLDAP is related to the IETF LDAPv3 RFC series, X.500 directory models, University of Michigan LDAP, Netscape Directory Server descendants, LMDB/back-mdb storage, SASL, TLS, Kerberos-oriented authentication deployments, and downstream clients that depend on libldap.

Sources

• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4510
• https://git.openldap.org/openldap/openldap
• https://www.openldap.org/conf/odd-tuebingen-2018/HowardHist.pdf
• https://www.openldap.org/doc/admin24/intro.html
• https://www.openldap.org/foundation/
• https://www.openldap.org/software/
• https://www.openldap.org/software/roadmap.html