[Bug]: ldap.managed attribute ordering
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Description
What happened?
In a state like the following, the attributes list (here top and organizationUnit) might be written in one order
manage-ldap:
ldap.managed:
- connect_spec:
url: ldapi://%2frun%2fslapd-myidm.socket
- entries:
- ou=people,dc=example,dc=com:
- delete_others: True
- replace:
objectClass:
- top
- organizationalUnit
ou:
- people
but the LDAP server might store the change in a different order:
# ldapsearch -LLLH ldapi://%2fvar%2frun%2fslapd-myidm.socket ou=people objectClass
...
dn: ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
objectClass: top
There are two problems:
- The state is not idempotent - there are always changes reported - applying them does not resolve them, because the LDAP server sticks to its order.
- The changes output does not indicate what the difference with the reported changes is, as the
changesdict is "prettified" with attribute sorting.
ID: manage-ldap
Function: ldap.managed
Result: None
Comment: Would change LDAP entries
Started: 12:48:46.085695
Duration: 278.825 ms
Changes:
----------
ou=people,dc=example,dc=com:
----------
new:
----------
objectclass:
- organizationalUnit
- top
old:
----------
objectClass:
- organizationalUnit
- top
To make the state idempotent, one needs to write the attributes in the same order as expected by the LDAP server.
I am not certain if this behavior is specific to the LDAP implementation I am using the state with (389DS), but as it is not convenient for a user writing a state to guess what order the LDAP server might expect (to avoid endless changes upon deployment), I think the module should internally sort the attribute values.
However, this might need exceptions or a boolean toggle, as ordering might be important (and not mangled by the LDAP server) for some specific attributes (for example mail).
Type of salt install
pip (git)
Major version
3006.x
What supported OS are you seeing the problem on? Can select multiple. (If bug appears on an unsupported OS, please open a GitHub Discussion instead)
sles-15-sp5
salt --versions-report output
Salt Version:
Salt: 3006.19+0.gc9c5ab41bd
Python Version:
Python: 3.11.14 (main, Nov 20 2025, 22:16:35) [GCC]
Dependency Versions:
cffi: Not Installed
cherrypy: Not Installed
cryptography: Not Installed
dateutil: Not Installed
docker-py: Not Installed
gitdb: Not Installed
gitpython: Not Installed
Jinja2: 3.1.6
libgit2: Not Installed
looseversion: 1.3.0
M2Crypto: Not Installed
Mako: Not Installed
msgpack: 1.1.2
msgpack-pure: Not Installed
mysql-python: Not Installed
packaging: 25.0
pycparser: Not Installed
pycrypto: Not Installed
pycryptodome: Not Installed
pygit2: Not Installed
python-gnupg: Not Installed
PyYAML: 6.0.3
PyZMQ: Not Installed
relenv: Not Installed
smmap: Not Installed
timelib: Not Installed
Tornado: 4.5.3
ZMQ: Not Installed
System Versions:
dist: sles 15.7
locale: utf-8
machine: x86_64
release: 6.18.3-1-default
system: Linux
version: SLES 15.7
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start from the ldap.managed state implementation and trace how LDAP attribute values are compared and how the changes dictionary is formatted. Reproduce the ordering case, then define and test behavior that avoids repeated changes while preserving meaningful ordering differences and accurately reporting old and new values.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- infrastructure
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100