How can I change an objectclass definition to make a mandatory attributeoptional ?

Question

I am using my own objectclasses. I want to change the definition of
one of them so that an attribute that is mandatory becomes optional.
I have tried modifying cn=schema with an LDAP client. Certain
modifications are accepted (adding new attributes, for example)
but my mandatory attribute remains mandatory. I get no error
message.
My directory is Novell eDirectory 8.7.3
Thanks for any help
Franois Beretti

Answer 1

This may work:
Atomic Operation
On these operations it is necessary that the operation be performed
within the same transaction. Modification of this type must be atomic or
they will fail with an error of constraint violation.
Further as schema entries are typically done on attributetypes or
objectClasses which are essentially muti-valued attributes, it the
"delete" operation must reference the value being modified EXACTLY what
exist in the schema.
As an example:
Add Attribute to a ObjectClass
Here is an example of a modification to a class that adds an attribute
to the class:
dn: cn=schema
changetype: modify
delete: objectclasses
objectclasses: ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.131.6.1.23 NAME 'myNewClass'
SUP top MUST ( myNewAttrOne $ myNewAttrTwo ) MAY
(myANewAttrThree $ myNewAttrFour $ myNewAttrFive ) )
add: objectclasses
objectclasses: ( 2.16.840.1.113719.1.131.6.1.23 NAME 'myNewClass'
SUP top MUST ( myNewAttrOne $ myNewAttrTwo ) MAY (
myNewAttrThree $ myNewAttrFour $ myNewAttrFive $
myNewAttrSix ) )
Limitations
There are some limitations with making modifications to existing schema
entries. These are based on referential integrity and follow common sense.
Any schema modification that could possibly invalidate any data is not
allowed. For example, in the first example above, the upper bound was
changed from 8 to 40, thus increasing the range of possible values. The
bound could not be modified to a value below 8, or it could invalidate
data values.
Similarly, an attribute could be changed from a single-valued attribute
to a multivalued attribute, but not the reverse as there may be data
with multiple values. You could change a class and make an object a
container, but you cannot change a container object into a leaf object
as the container may contain other objects.
-jim
Franois Beretti wrote:
> I am using my own objectclasses. I want to change the definition of
> one of them so that an attribute that is mandatory becomes optional.
>
> I have tried modifying cn=schema with an LDAP client. Certain
> modifications are accepted (adding new attributes, for example)
> but my mandatory attribute remains mandatory. I get no error
> message.
>
> My directory is Novell eDirectory 8.7.3
>
> Thanks for any help
>
> Franois Beretti