Full_Name: Russ Allbery
Version: 2.3.35
OS: Debian
URL:
Submission from: (NULL) (171.64.19.147)
A Debian user was confused by the -y option and its inclusion of whitespace in
the password. The current man page text does explain this, but it doesn't make
a point of it, and I think a bit more explanation would be useful. Here's a
patch for the ldapcompare.1 man page; if you think this is a good idea, similar
changes could be made to all the other command-line utilities that take the -y
option.
--- ldapcompare.1 (revision 805)
+++ ldapcompare.1 (working copy)
@@ -106,8 +106,12 @@
Use \fIpasswd\fP as the password for simple authentication.
.TP
.BI \-y \ passwdfile
-Use complete contents of \fIpasswdfile\fP as the password for
-simple authentication.
+Use complete contents of \fIpasswdfile\fP, including any leading or
+trailing whitespace and any final newlines, as the password for
+simple authentication. If the password does not contain a newline,
+be careful when creating this file. Many editors and commands like
+\fBecho\fP will add a trailing newline, which will then be taken as part
+of the password.
.TP
.BI \-H \ ldapuri
Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); only the protocol/host/port