Hi!

I wonder: Is the output of slapcat expected to be stable (assuming the database did not change)? I know that LDAP attributes are considered to be sets that have no implicit ordering, but diff-wise it would be rather nice to have a stable output ordering. Here is an example of non-stable output ordering (sdiff output, only first 18 columns for confidentiality):

# sdiff b0 b1

dn: olcDatabase={1 dn: olcDatabase={1 objectClass: olcDa objectClass: olcDa objectClass: olcHd objectClass: olcHd olcDatabase: {1}hd olcDatabase: {1}hd olcDbDirectory: /v olcDbDirectory: /v olcSuffix: dc=sap, olcSuffix: dc=sap, olcAccess: {0}to * < olcAccess: {1}to d < olcAccess: {2}to a < olcAccess: {3}to a < olcAccess: {4}to a < olcAccess: {5}to * < olcLimits: {0}dn.e olcLimits: {0}dn.e olcRootDN: cn=Admi olcRootDN: cn=Admi olcRootPW: {SSHA}y olcRootPW: {SSHA}y olcSecurity: ssf=1 olcSecurity: ssf=1 olcSyncrepl: {0}ri olcSyncrepl: {0}ri olcSyncrepl: {1}ri olcSyncrepl: {1}ri olcSyncrepl: {2}ri olcSyncrepl: {2}ri olcUpdateRef: ldap olcUpdateRef: ldap olcUpdateRef: ldap olcUpdateRef: ldap olcUpdateRef: ldap olcUpdateRef: ldap olcMirrorMode: TRU olcMirrorMode: TRU olcDbCacheSize: 10 olcDbCacheSize: 10 olcDbCheckpoint: 1 olcDbCheckpoint: 1 olcDbConfig: {0}se olcDbConfig: {0}se olcDbConfig: {1}se olcDbConfig: {1}se olcDbConfig: {2}se olcDbConfig: {2}se olcDbConfig: {3}se olcDbConfig: {3}se olcDbConfig: {4}se olcDbConfig: {4}se olcDbConfig: {5}se olcDbConfig: {5}se olcDbIDLcacheSize: olcDbIDLcacheSize: olcDbIndex: object olcDbIndex: object olcDbIndex: uidNum olcDbIndex: uidNum olcDbIndex: gidNum olcDbIndex: gidNum olcDbIndex: member olcDbIndex: member olcDbIndex: member olcDbIndex: member olcDbIndex: cn eq, olcDbIndex: cn eq, olcDbIndex: uid eq olcDbIndex: uid eq olcDbIndex: sn eq, olcDbIndex: sn eq, olcDbIndex: givenN olcDbIndex: givenN olcDbIndex: entryU olcDbIndex: entryU olcDbIndex: entryC olcDbIndex: entryC olcDbIndex: ipServ olcDbIndex: ipServ olcDbIndex: ipServ olcDbIndex: ipServ olcDbIndex: roleOc olcDbIndex: roleOc olcDbIndex: mail e olcDbIndex: mail e olcDbIndex: displa olcDbIndex: displa olcDbIndex: modify olcDbIndex: modify structuralObjectCl structuralObjectCl entryUUID: db3ffe4 entryUUID: db3ffe4 creatorsName: cn=c creatorsName: cn=c createTimestamp: 2 createTimestamp: 2 entryCSN: 20170706 | olcAccess: {0}to * > olcAccess: {1}to d > olcAccess: {2}to a > olcAccess: {3}to a > olcAccess: {4}to a > olcAccess: {5}to * > entryCSN: 20200114 modifiersName: cn= modifiersName: cn= modifyTimestamp: 2 modifyTimestamp: 2

So is the order of output given by some hash functions in slapcat, or is it the order in which the database returns the attributes? What would I have to do to sort the attribute types in the same order as they are listed in the schema (one possible stable output)?

Regards, Ulrich