[PLUG] LDAP addressbooks (Long)

[Lee Marzke <lee@marzke.net>]

I'm looking for ideas on addressbooks that work across multiple 
devices.  I've been
using Google Voice since I picked up an Android phone, but not really 
happy with
how that is working.  I only use Google Addressbook now, not Google 
email, or voice.

My environment is:

- Ubuntu Lucid 64bit Laptop,   with Thunberbird as email client.
- Remote hosted IMAP server with IMP Webmail
- Android phone

- Test instance of OpenLDAP,  with InetOrgPerson schema default
- Test instance of 389 Directory Server


I really like the idea of using LDAP,  and have setup OpenLDAP in the 
past,  but now that
I am looking at LDAP again I find multiple areas that are frustrating.

- Thunderbird can't write to LDAP, only read.   I'm partially open to 
other IMAP clients.

- Evolution can write, but doesn't use the same LDAP fields/schema as 
other products.
   In many cases simple things like zip codes are scrambled.  Seems 
that multiple LDAP
   fields are being concatenated into one field because of the schema 
issues ?

- InetOrgPerson schema is provided in OpenLDAP is close to what I need, 
if only a
   group of tools would use it.  Evolution wants EvolutionPerson ?

- OpenLDAP won't load 'schema' files anymore,  they need to be in .ldif 
format ?

- OpenLDAP's config file is not used anymore,  it is configured by 
another LDAP instance.
  This seems to be a complete mess,  as most documentation refers to 
slapd.conf

- I've also setup 389 Directory server,  but this seem to add a bunch of 
complexity
    with no real benefit.

I'm quite happy with my current IMAP hosting setup and not really 
looking for an
integrated product like Zimbra.

Any suggestions or ideas ?    Can OpenLDAP still be run with the old 
'slapd.conf' file instead
of the current setup ?   Is there a common schema that works - and can 
also be synced
in some format to Android ?

--
Lee


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