Fedora directory users - Aug 2006 - Net::LDAP or Mozilla::LDAP::Conn/Entry for FDS

What are the disadvantages of sticking with Net::LDAP and not using 
Mozilla::LDAP::Conn/Entry as the Perl module interface for Fedora DS 
v.1.0.2?
Thanks
Nick

Nick Johnson wrote:
> What are the disadvantages of sticking with Net::LDAP and not using 
> Mozilla::LDAP::Conn/Entry as the Perl module interface for Fedora DS 
> v.1.0.2?
Net::LDAP allows you to use all of the LDAPv3 controls and extended 
operations by providing an ASN.1 parser.  I personally like the OO 
interface of Net::LDAP.

Mozilla::LDAP is a wrapper around the C libraries, so it is as much as a 
factor of 10 faster.  So if you need as much performance as you can get, 
use it instead of Net::LDAP which is native perl.  Also, if you want to 
use Mozilla NSS for crypto, you must use Mozilla::LDAP - Net::LDAP uses 
Net::SSLeay which is a wrapper around openssl.
> Thanks
> Nick
> --
> Fedora-directory-users mailing list
> Fedora-directory-users@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-directory-users
>

Richard,
Many thanks for your concise summary. Perhaps this could be added to the 
Wiki FAQ sometime?
Regards
Nick

Richard Megginson wrote:
> Nick Johnson wrote:
>> What are the disadvantages of sticking with Net::LDAP and not using 
>> Mozilla::LDAP::Conn/Entry as the Perl module interface for Fedora DS 
>> v.1.0.2?
> Net::LDAP allows you to use all of the LDAPv3 controls and extended 
> operations by providing an ASN.1 parser.  I personally like the OO 
> interface of Net::LDAP.
>
> Mozilla::LDAP is a wrapper around the C libraries, so it is as much as 
> a factor of 10 faster.  So if you need as much performance as you can 
> get, use it instead of Net::LDAP which is native perl.  Also, if you 
> want to use Mozilla NSS for crypto, you must use Mozilla::LDAP - 
> Net::LDAP uses Net::SSLeay which is a wrapper around openssl.
>> Thanks
>> Nick
>> -- 
>> Fedora-directory-users mailing list
>> Fedora-directory-users@redhat.com
>> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-directory-users
>>   
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
> Fedora-directory-users mailing list
> Fedora-directory-users@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-directory-users
>

Richard Megginson wrote:
> 
> 
> Net::LDAP allows you to use all of the LDAPv3 controls and extended 
> operations by providing an ASN.1 parser.  I personally like the OO 
> interface of Net::LDAP.
Me, too. I like it a lot. It''s very clean, and well thought out.

> Mozilla::LDAP is a wrapper around the C libraries, so it is as much as a 
> factor of 10 faster.  So if you need as much performance as you can get, 
> use it instead of Net::LDAP which is native perl.  Also, if you want to 
> use Mozilla NSS for crypto, you must use Mozilla::LDAP - Net::LDAP uses 
> Net::SSLeay which is a wrapper around openssl.
One thing to mention here is that Net::SSLeay does not allow more than 
one concurrent LDAPS handle. Most people don''t need that, but worth 
noting anyway...

My reasons for using Net::LDAP are that it is ubiquitous, well tested, 
and well maintained. Another reason is that it''s platform independent, 
which can be a real lifesaver if you need to deliver the same code to 
e.g. win32, linux, and unix machines.

I have probably written more than 100k lines of code with Net::LDAP, and 
I recommend that if you are just getting started using perl with LDAP 
that you start to do the same :-) Net::LDAP is drop-dead easy to code to 
and drop-dead easy to subclass, which makes for very rapid development.

When I design a piece of LDAP functionality which needs to be really 
fast I just write it in C to begin with. I don''t see much sense in
using
a perl wrapper around C libraries.


BR,
--
mike