ldapsearch error “Invalid general option name” for every option

Question

Whenever I try to use ldapsearch with a -o option I get the following error:

Invalid general option name:

An example command I am trying to run (taken from redhat documentation):

ldapsearch -p 389 -h server.example.com -o "mech=GSSAPI" 
    -o "authid=dn:uid=jsmith,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com" 
    -o realm=EXAMPLE.COM

But it doesn't matter what option I try, I still get this error. I also made sure openldap was up to date on this computer.

Answer 1

Maybe the documentation is wrong...looking at the man page (version 2.4-Release), there're only two possible general options:

   -o opt[=optparam]

      Specify general options.

      General options:
        nettimeout=<timeout>  (in seconds, or "none" or "max")
        ldif-wrap=<width>     (in columns, or "no" for no wrapping)

That said, the man page has some related mentions, e.g.

   -E [!]ext[=extparam]
      Specify general extensions with -e and  search  extensions  with
      -E.  '!' indicates criticality.

      General extensions:
            [...]
    !authzid=<authzid>    ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
   [...]
   -O security-properties
      Specify SASL security properties.
   [...]
   -Y mech
      Specify the SASL mechanism to be  used  for  authentication.  If
      it's  not  specified, the program will choose the best mechanism
      the server knows.

so maybe one of these does the trick, just have a look at your ldapsearch's man page.

There's a reference on common errors with Kerberos, GSSAPI and SASL Authentication using LDAP that might be helpful once the correct options are picked.

Answer 2

Thank you for replying. I think your right, the doc is wrong or just outdated.

I did find all of the options I wanted by just doing a --help.

Just for completeness here is the command with all of the right options:

ldapsearch -p 389 -h server.example.com -X "authid=dn:uid=jsmith,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com" -R realm=EXAMPLE.COM -Y GSSAPI