Moved

Please see BbdbExport.

bbdb

I recently started using the emacs big brother database to keep track of all my contacts.

• http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/ - project page

why ldap?

When I started using bbdb, I found several scripts to export bbdb data to the palm. I played around with a few, but wasn't able to get any of these scripts working on Mac OS X. Then I realized that there was already a BBDB perl module on CPAN, and building a new export tool would be a breeze. All that I needed was a standardized format for handling contact information.

It became quickly obvious to me that ldap would be ideal solution. There are tons of tools that support ldap. Also with a perl script I could automate updates of the ldap database, and the updated data would instantly be available in any tool using my ldap database. So I couldn't think of a better option. The standard text format for ldap databases is an LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format), which is a flat text file that was extremely easy to build. I was also quite pleased to notice that the mac addressbook supports importing LDIF files directly, so I was able to manually import the database and then sync it to my palm. I was also able to sync the data from my palm into my wintendo, where I was able to export my contact information to my mobile phone. Aren't computers kew?

Download

The current version is available here:

http://www.geekfarm.org/wu/bbdb2ldap.pl

Prerequisites

• BBDB module from CPAN

Installation

Put this script somewhere and run it. Make any changes necessary to the config section at the top of the script.

Usage

bbdb2ldap.pl [-ldap|-ldif]

Options:

-ldap = delete record directly from ldap and then re-add using data
        from bbdb.

-ldif = create a .ldif file

Feedback

My email address is available on my home page, AleX.

Limitations

This script uses the inetOrgPerson schema. While this schema is somewhat limited, it interacts well with the Mac Addressbook, which is my current client.

-- AleX - 12 Feb 2005