Re: db.debian.org (and related infrastructure) updates
On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 12:50:27AM +0100, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> wouter@country:~$ ldapsearch -h 'db.debian.org' -b'cn=Subschema' -x -s base '(objectClass=*)' attributeTypes | grep gender
> attributeTypes: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.9586.100.4.2.30 NAME 'gender' DESC 'ISO 5218 rep
> resentation of human gender' EQUALITY integerMatch SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.11
> In other words, if you want to see that changed, take it up with ISO.
> No, changing it unilaterally in Debian won't help, either; In LDAP, a
> field of a specific name always (*always*) has a certain syntax;
> breaking that would break software that expects this particular field to
> be in that particular syntax.
That's not completely true; you could have an attribute type named 'gender'
with a different OID and different syntax/semantics, you just wouldn't be
able to use it on an LDAP server which also needed the use of the ISO
attribute type or of any object classes that are defined to use the ISO
attribute.
But if all of our Japanese, Chinese, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, and French
Revolutionary developers can tolerate having to enter their birthdates using
the Gregorian calendar, I think we'll be able to make do with an opt-in
binary gender classification too.
--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
vorlon@debian.org http://www.debian.org/
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