slapmodify(8) — Linux manual page

NAME \| SYNOPSIS \| DESCRIPTION \| OPTIONS \| LIMITATIONS \| EXAMPLES \| SEE ALSO \| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS \| COLOPHON

SLAPMODIFY(8C)                                             SLAPMODIFY(8C)

NAME top

       slapmodify - Modify entries in a SLAPD database

SYNOPSIS top

       SBINDIR/slapmodify [-b suffix] [-c] [-d debug-level]
       [-f slapd.conf] [-F confdir] [-g] [-j lineno] [-l ldif-file]
       [-n dbnum] [-o option[=value]] [-q] [-s] [-S SID] [-u] [-v] [-w]

DESCRIPTION top

       Slapmodify is used to apply modifications specified in LDAP
       Directory Interchange Format (LDIF) to a slapd(8) database.  It
       opens the given database determined by the database number or
       suffix and performs modifications corresponding to the provided
       LDIF to the database.  Databases configured as subordinate of this
       one are also updated, unless -g is specified.  The LDIF input is
       read from standard input or the specified file.

       All files eventually created by slapmodify will belong to the
       identity slapmodify is run as, so make sure you either run
       slapmodify with the same identity slapd(8) will be run as (see
       option -u in slapd(8)), or change file ownership before running
       slapd(8).

       Note: slapmodify will also perform the relevant indexing whilst
       modifying the database if any are configured. For specific
       details, please see slapindex(8).

OPTIONS top

-b suffix
Use the specified suffix to determine which database to add
entries to. The -b cannot be used in conjunction with the
-n option.

-c enable continue (ignore errors) mode.

-d debug-level
enable debugging messages as defined by the specified
debug-level; see slapd(8) for details.

-f slapd.conf
specify an alternative slapd.conf(5) file.

-F confdir
specify a config directory. If both -f and -F are
specified, the config file will be read and converted to
config directory format and written to the specified
directory. If neither option is specified, an attempt to
read the default config directory will be made before
trying to use the default config file. If a valid config
directory exists then the default config file is ignored.
If dry-run mode is also specified, no conversion will
occur.

-g disable subordinate gluing. Only the specified database
will be processed, and not its glued subordinates (if any).

-j lineno
Jump to the specified line number in the LDIF file before
processing any entries. This allows a modification that was
aborted due to errors in the input LDIF to be resumed after
the errors are corrected.

-l ldif-file
Read LDIF from the specified file instead of standard
input.

-n dbnum
Perform changes on the dbnum-th database listed in the
configuration file. The -n cannot be used in conjunction
with the -b option. To manipulate the config database
slapd-config(5), use -n 0 as it is always the first
database. It must physically exist on the filesystem prior
to this, however.

-o option[=value]
Specify an option with a(n optional) value. Possible
generic options/values are:

syslog=<subsystems> (see `-s' in slapd(8))
syslog-level=<level> (see `-S' in slapd(8))
syslog-user=<user> (see `-l' in slapd(8))

schema-check={yes|no}
value-check={yes|no}

The schema-check option toggles schema checking (default on);
the value-check option toggles value checking (default off).
The latter is incompatible with -q.

-q enable quick (fewer integrity checks) mode. Does fewer consistency checks
on the input data, and no consistency checks when writing the database.
Improves the run time but if any errors or interruptions occur the resulting
database will be unusable.

-s disable schema checking. This option is intended to be used when
manipulating databases containing special objects, such as fractional
objects on a partial replica. Creating normal objects which do not
conform to schema may result in unexpected and ill behavior.

-S SID Server ID to use in generated entryCSN. Also used for contextCSN
if -w is set as well. Defaults to 0.

-u enable dry-run (don't write to backend) mode.

-v enable verbose mode.

-w write syncrepl context information.
After all entries are added, the contextCSN
will be updated with the greatest CSN in the database.

LIMITATIONS top

       Your slapd(8) should not be running when you do this to ensure
       consistency of the database.

       Not all backends support all types of modification, modrdn
       changetype in particular is not implemented for any of the current
       backends.

       slapmodify may not provide naming or schema checks.  It is
       advisable to use ldapmodify(1) when possible.

EXAMPLES top

       To make modifications specified in file ldif into your slapd(8)
       database give the command:

            SBINDIR/slapmodify -l ldif

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS top

       OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP
       Project <http://www.openldap.org/>.  OpenLDAP Software is derived
       from the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.

COLOPHON top

       This page is part of the OpenLDAP (an open source implementation
       of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.openldap.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this
       manual page, see ⟨http://www.openldap.org/its/⟩.  This page was
       obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.openldap.org/openldap/openldap.git⟩ on 2025-08-11.
       (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
       in the repository was 2025-08-05.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

OpenLDAP LDVERSION             RELEASEDATE                 SLAPMODIFY(8C)

Pages that refer to this page: slapd.access(5), slapd.conf(5), slapd-config(5), slapd-mdb(5), slapd.plugin(5), slapd-wt(5), slapadd(8), slapd(8)