SLAPO-DEREF(5) File Formats Manual SLAPO-DEREF(5)

# [NAME](#NAME)

slapo-deref - Dereference Control overlay to slapd

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

/etc/openldap/slapd.conf

/etc/openldap/slapd.d

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

This overlay implements the draft Dereference control. The overlay can be used with any backend or globally for all backends.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

```


  database mdb


  ...


  overlay deref
```

Given these entries:

```


  dn: cn=Howard Chu,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org


  objectClass: inetOrgPerson


  cn: Howard Chu


  sn: Chu


  uid: hyc


  dn: cn=Pierangelo Masarati,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org


  objectClass: inetOrgPerson


  cn: Pierangelo Masarati


  sn: Masarati


  uid: ando


  dn: cn=Test Group,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=org


  objectClass: groupOfNames


  cn: Test Group


  member: cn=Howard Chu,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org


  member: cn=Pierangelo Masarati,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org
```

A search could be performed with a Dereference request control value specified as

```


  { member, uid }
```

I.e.,

```


  ldapsearch -x -b dc=example,dc=org -E 'deref=member:uid'
```

and the "cn=Test Group" entry would be returned with the response control value

```


  { { member, cn=Howard Chu,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org,


      { { uid, [hyc] } } },


    { member, cn=Pierangelo Masarati,ou=people,dc=example,dc=org,


      { { uid, [ando] } } } }
```

# [FILES](#FILES)

/etc/openldap/slapd.conf

default slapd configuration file

/etc/openldap/slapd.d

default slapd configuration directory

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**slapd.conf**(5)](/man/enterprise-packages/openldap-2.6/slapd.conf.5), [**slapd-config**(5)](/man/enterprise-packages/openldap-2.6/slapd-config.5).

"OpenLDAP Administrator's Guide" (http://www.OpenLDAP.org/doc/admin/)

IETF LDAP Dereference Control proposal by P. Masarati, H. Chu, in IETF document "draft-masarati-ldap-deref-00.txt".

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Pierangelo Masarati

2026/10/21 OpenLDAP 2.6.16

---

Document: slapo-deref(5) from openldap-2.6 2.6.16-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.openldap.org/openldap/openldap.git