Marc Lavergne writes:
Have there been any considerations in providing a similar API for a service name other than "ldap"? For example, what if I wanted to find global catalog servers? Even though GCs are Active Directory specific, I don't see why OpenLDAP would not support that type of query.
I don't see much point. dnssrv for LDAP is close to dead outside the Microsoft world: _ldap._tcp.<domain> is also in practice Active Directory specific, because Microsoft "stole" it for their own purpose. That is, when a site sets up Active Directory they are supposed to point _ldap._tcp.<their domain> at their Active Directory serveres.
So if the site has Windows and uses Active Directory for that, but uses another server for LDAP, they have two choices: Fight Microsoft and likely buy themselves a world of trouble with users who expect the "normal" AD setup, or drop _ldap._tcp.<domain> for its intended use. I can't imagine many choose the former.
(Unless I'm out of touch - for all I know they've switched to use something else with Vista. I don't use Windows myself.)